Pick Your Poison
by Mojotheomegawolf
Summary: Following Kate's untimely death, the park is laced with misery and woe, but when it becomes too much for Humphrey to take, everything which had held him, and the entire Western Territory together begins to become unraveled.
1. Chapter 1

**Pick Your Poison**

**WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT **

The day was nearing an end in Jasper, the eastward pointing shadows growing long as the sun made its routine descent over the curve of the earth. The mountains and the trees were lavished in an assortment of blues, reds, and purples and the wind breathed fresh life over the park. There could be heard the rustling of leaves in this soft breeze, along with the mighty roar of Howling Rock Falls, and the pleasant trickling of water in the tiny stream that snaked its way through the Western territory. It was a warm spring evening, quite nice to be out in; but then again, nothing on this day would ever be seen as pleasant, or nice, or calm for the Western wolves.

The sniffling, sobs, and wails of mourning friends, family, and lovers sounded dominantly in the den area of their home. They mourned for the recent death as they would for their own pup. But the most heartbroken of these wails came from about a quarter mile down stream where the creek came to a bend. Beyond that bend was a den, small and seemingly out of place; the kind of den in which you would expect an omega to call home. Deep and painful cries of woe and sorrow belched from the cave and reached out to the world that the owner of these had shut himself away from. Passers by would hear these cries and begin to tear up, knowing why it was that this young wolf cried so. They all knew that her death wasn't his fault, but he wouldn't' listen to them.

How could it _not _be his fault?

He was the one who had biffed the log upon landing, spilling the two of them out into the torrent of hooves. She stood and was kicked in the head, the hoof making contact with her temple, causing her body to die but her brain to still work. She stood up and pumped her legs, getting hit again by another hoof. She rolled over a few times from the hit then rolled to her feet and turned a barrel roll, landing it and then rolling over onto her back and flailing her legs in the air. He dodged hooves and rushed to her and she rolled to her feet, jumped one more time, and then fell lifeless into his arms. It was all his fault she was dead and now he resided in his den, alone and broken.

The den was positioned so that whenever the evening came around like now, there would be light that touched the front half of the inside, but the back stayed dark in case the owner felt he needed an early slumber.

In this dark half of the den there lay a slender, slate gray omega wolf curled tightly into a secure ball sobbing uncontrollably. The horrible scene kept playing over and over again in his mind, haunting him and sending him deeper and deeper into sadness each and every time it reoccurred. Again he saw Kate's body laid out in his arms, and then looking down upon the leaf made blanket that covered her as she lay in a deep hole yet to be filled. The scene ended and new tears began to fall.

There was a commotion outside of the den and he heard voices whispering, most likely about him, inaudibly to each other. He could tell that whoever they were, they were coming into his den. He turned his back to the opening and curled into a tighter ball, reducing his loud cries down to soft sniffs. The animals approaching his den stopped outside the mouth and peered into the darkness. They couldn't see the wolf inside but they knew he was there from the sniffling in the back.

"H... Humphrey?" Salty called into the den.

There was no response, just a scratching sound as Humphrey shifted his position. He had no desire to speak to anybody at the moment.

"Come on Humphrey," Salty began again after a brief moment of silence, "come on out and talk to us man. You've just been layin' there alone ever since..."

"Shhh!" the small gray omega named Shaky warned.

There was a loud growl in the back of the den the like of which the three of them had never heard before. There were the pops of tight joints as Humphrey rose to his feet and the scrapes of paws as he began stumbling drunkenly to the front of the den.

His face appeared in the light, followed by the rest of his body .

He looked awful; his fur was straggly and matted, he was covered in mud and had yet to wash off ant of Kate's blood that had dripped onto his chest from her head wound. Above everything else, he looked extremely pissed off and his blood shot eyes only added to the fear Humphrey generated in his friends.

"Humphrey, I..." Salty began nervously, but was interrupted by an even darker growl from Humphrey.

"You three better leave right now if you know what's good for you!" Humphrey warned through clenched teeth.

Again, he had absolutely NO desire to speak with ANYBODY. Why couldn't they just get that through their thick heads?

The three of them stepped back a few paces, but didn't leave like they were warned.

"Humphrey," Salty said and took a step into the den.

Humphrey now shook.

"Are you fucking deaf? I said LEAVE!"

Humphrey lashed out quickly and slashed three deep gashes across Salty's left cheek. Salty stood for a moment with his paw over his bleeding wounds completely shocked. He had NEVER seen Humphrey become violent in his entire life.

Another growl rose in Humphrey again and this time they turned sullenly to leave, Salty with tears brimming in his eyes. Humphrey watched them as they went and then looked down at the blood on his claws then at the blood that had dripped from Salty's face to the floor of the den. There came a dark chuckle in him that quickly built up until it was a hysterical laugh. After a moment of this he dropped his head to catch his breath. He lifted his head again but this time something completely different came forth.

"FUUUUCK!" Humphrey screamed at the top of his lungs.

His heart began to race as a deep, seething anger began to overtake and darken his mind.

"FUUUUUCK!" he yelled again and slammed his paw into the wall closest to him.

"God damn it! AHHHHHHH!"

He began to pound on the wall with his fist, blood beginning to be left after each impact.

"Why the fuck did this have to happen? Why did you have to take her away from me?"

By this time quite a crowd of wolves began to make their way hurriedly over to his den. Humphrey screamed again and slammed his shoulder into the wall of the den, then turned and smashed into another wall.

"What the fuck! AHHHHHHH!" he sprinted for another wall with his head down.

"Ahhhhhhh! FUCK!"

He slammed the top of his head into the wall and took a step back, leaving blood smeared onto the wall and in the fur on the top of his head. He stared at his crimson reflection with hate.

"This is all your fault you fuck face!"

He punched his reflection.

"You fucking did this! This is all your fucking fault!"

The group of wolves gathered about his den stood by and watched the display in horror. Finally a wolf took a step into the mouth of the den and started to quickly walk over to Humphrey. Humphrey caught him in the corner of his eye and turned to him with venom in his glare.

"NO! You keep the fuck away from me!"

The wolf stopped briefly then continued on to try and calm him down.

Humphrey smashed the wall again and staggered backward. The wolf put a paw on Humphrey's shoulder.

"Don't fucking touch me!" Humphrey spat and gashed the wolf's face with his claws.

The wolf Humphrey had just assaulted was Winston. Eve saw this and a fierce growl rose into her throat. She began to stalk over to Humphrey with the intent to kill, but was stopped by Winston.

"No Eve, don't hurt him. He told me to stay back but I didn't listen. That was poor judgment on my part.

Humphrey had no idea of what was going on around him. The intense ringing in his ears made it very difficult to hear.

He began to feel weak and dizzy from the blow on his head and the loss of blood that was the result. A blackness began to consume him and he fell to the ground, sobbing until he lost concsiousness.

**Not bad for a first crack at it right? I hope y'all enjoyed this. Please leave me a review and let me know how I did.**

**Stay tuned for more.**


	2. Chapter 2

Humphrey slowly began to stir, his heavy eyes struggling to stay open. After a few minutes , Humphrey was finally able to pry his eyelids open and pick his head up. He winced from an intense pain that drilled into the top of his head, and he gingerly placed his paws where the epicenter of this was, finding that he had a leaven bandage wrapped about his head. It took him a few seconds to remember why he was wearing this then it all came flooding back to him like a tsunami. He turned his head down to his paw and saw that he had a thick ace wrap around it, ending as a fairly sturdy brace on his wrist.

Now what about his shoulders?

He turned and inspected each one, finding that they were really not all that bad. He had scraped most of his fur off of them when he hit the walls and there were a few small scratches here and there, but other than that they were fine; just a bit sore from the bruising. He took a look around the den and found himself alone, who ever had patched him up long gone. He turned to look outside and saw that it was completely dark out; probably some time in the early morning hours if he had to guess. The next thing he realized was that it was pretty cold and that he was lying right in the middle of an air current that brought a biting chill directly to his body.

He tried to stand and move further to the back to better shelter himself, but had to suppress a yelp when he applied pressure to injured paw.

'Great. I probably broke my damn paw,' he thought bitterly to himself. with a slight shaking of his head.

It was a bit harder to try and stand up with just three legs, but it was still doable. He started to pull his feet in toward his body, keeping his broken one out and then began to push himself up, bringing his injured paw into his body. Humphrey immediately lost his balance and his first reaction was to shoot his fourth paw out to catch himself. As soon as his paw made contact with the ground and his weight was applied to it he cried out in pain, stumbling forward and falling back onto his side.

* * *

><p>A very loyal friend sat alone outside the den in the cooler temperatures of the night. Even though it was cold enough to make him shiver and it was against the advisement of the other members of the pack he still remained. Humphrey was his best friend; he had to be there whenever he came to. He sat and stared up at the crescent shaped moon that seemed smile mockingly down upon the land. Not finding this irony funny he let off an agitated growl that shook through his chattering teeth.<p>

'For spring it sure is cold tonight,' he thought to himself and wrapped his forelegs around the front of his body

A sudden sound from inside the den caught him by the ears and dragged him back into the real world. He quickly made a turn and fast stepped into the den just in time to see Humphrey trying to pick himself up off the ground.

"Hey, take it easy," he said to Humphrey.

Humphrey froze. Salty was the absolute LAST person he needed to see right now. He felt so guilty for what he did to him, but he wasn't about to let it show. He laid back down slowly and turned away without a word.

"H-hey Humphrey. How's it goin?" Salty asked nervously.

Humphrey made no response, but instead just tried to stand up again, nearly falling back down. Salty rushed over to Humphrey and caught him with his shoulder. Salty helped push Humphrey up, but as soon as he was up and balanced on his three working paws, he pushed Salty roughly away with his shoulder and began to three-legged walk toward the back of the den. Salty watched him stalk to the back of the den and lay down with his back facing the opening. Humphrey was shaking noticeably from the cold, his entire body trembling and his teeth chattering. Salty began to slowly and cautiously approach, but was stopped half way whenever he heard a threatening growl rise from Humphrey that warned him to keep his distance. Nobody should ever have to mourn and suffer alone but it was obvious that was what Humphrey intended to do.

Salty hung his head and began to leave. Once he reached the mouth of the den he stopped and turned around to see Humphrey still shaking violently from the cold.

"If you need anything you know where to find me," Salty said then turned and began to walk back to his den.

Once alone Humphrey let the tears start to flow again, sorrowful sobs echoing off the walls and spilling out into the cold of the night.

**Shorter chapter, but more to come soon. Stick around.**

**Questions? **

**Concerns?**

**You know what to do.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Humphrey slept very little the previous night, the biting cold, guilt, and the fact that any time he closed his eyes he found them looking again with the same horror and sadness at the scene of Kate's death being the main reasons. The rays of the early morning sun slowly crept into the den and found Humphrey's eyes to be wide with drowsiness and bloodshot due to tears and lack of sleep. He groaned and squinted his eyes against the glare of the sun, but was grateful for the warmth it provided. The blood started to warm up in his veins and began to flow through his body, kicking away the numbness he felt. With the numbness in his body giving way to physical feeling came the pain from his injured paw and the brutal pounding through his skull. He winced and closed his eyes tightly, covering his muzzle with his good paw.

There was a scraping that came from around the front of the den and he opened his eyes, removing his paw so he could see who or what was there. Standing at the mouth of the den was a tan furred wolf named Amina, the pack's healer. She looked nervous, and she had good reason to be. Humphrey was extremely unpredictable at the moment, and that being fact made him very dangerous. She shifted nervously and then spoke.

"H-hey Humphrey, how are you feeling this morning?" she asked slowly.

Humphrey made no response, didn't even so much as move. Amina reluctantly stepped into the den.

"I-I'm here to change your bandages and give you some medicine," she said as she slowly got closer to him.

Again Humphrey made no reply, instead he just laid there staring blankly out at the front of the den. Amina arrived at his side and stood rigidly, ready to spring if he became violent; but he just laid there in the same manner he was in whenever she was approaching. She let her supplies fall from her back to the floor of the den and started to slowly reach her paw out toward Humphrey's head. When her aw made contact with the spot where his bandage was tied she paused, keeping a very careful eye on him. Once she was sure he wasn't going to do anything she untied the bandage and began to slowly unwrap it from about his head.

Once it was all the way off she looked carefully at his wound. Before she had applied the bandage the previous night, she could clearly see the top of his fractured skull in the four inch wide hole where his skin was scraped off; but that area was now covered by a huge scab. She placed the used bandage down and produced a clear gel and rubbed it between her paws. She then gently rubbed that on his scab, causing Humphrey to squeeze his eyes tightly together and wince.

"There you go, that will help keep that from getting infected," she said reassuringly.

She finished and wiped her paws clean, then produced a fresh wrap and unraveled it, then began to slowly and carefully re wrap his head. Once finished she moved around to the side where Humphrey's injured paw was. Still keeping a wary eye on him she reached down and took his paw into hers to examine the wrap. As soon as her paw touched his he yelped, causing her to take a few steps back. After a couple of seconds she tried again. Humphrey yelped to the touch, but Amina was prepared for it this time and began her work.

Once she finished removing the ace wrap she shifted his paw gently around in hers to examine it. The swelling was still almost as bad, if not worse, than it was last night and scabs had formed over the areas where he had skinned his knuckles. She found the area of the most significant break and applied a small amount of pressure to see how it was doing since the night before when she had reset it. Humphrey screamed from the pain, but kept still. Amina rubbed the same gel over his scabs then took a fresh wrap out and began to go to work. As soon as she finished Humphrey could feel the leaf deal wrapped around his leg begin to harden into a brace.

"Now Humphrey," Amina began as she reached behind her. She produced a sort of purple liquid in a bowl made from a tree limb and set it down in front of her.

"I'm gonna give you some medicine for pain,"' she said as she picked up the bowl and brought it down to his mouth.

She put the rim of the bowl to his lips and tilted it, the liquid staring to trickle into his mouth. Humphrey turned his head away and spit the medicine out on the ground.

"Humphrey please take this. It'll make you feel better," Amina begged.

"I don't want it," Humphrey said in a raspy voice.

"Come on Humphrey. Trust me, you'll feel a lot better if you'd just..."

"I said I don't want it!" Humphrey yelled and slapped the bowl from her paws, sending the medicine splashing across the floor.

Amina looked at him sadly.

"Now if you're finished leave," Humphrey said coldly.

Amina sniffed away a tear and gathered up all of her supplies, then turned to go. When she reached the mouth of the den she turned back.

"If you need anything just call," she said then turned to leave.

Once she was out and a short distance away from the den she was approached by three wolves.

"So how is he?" Mooch asked.

"He's still got some significant swelling on his head and paw. He is undergoing intense pain but he refused to take any medicine for it, the poor guy. I feel so bad for him."

Mooch shook his head sadly.

"I'm gonna go talk to him," he said and took a step toward the den.

"I wouldn't do that," Amina pressed and stepped in front of him, "he' still pretty upset and it doesn't appear that he wants any visitors. For now I'd say that the best thing to do is to just leave him alone and let him heal."

The three sighed and hung their heads then turned and walked slowly away.

* * *

><p>Humphrey laid down near the back wall of the den, satisfied with his work. As soon as he was settled in he heard slow footsteps coming from the front of the den. He rolled his eyes and looked out to see salty approaching with a leg of caribou in his jaws. As soon as Humphrey saw the meat his stomach began to growl ravenously from its recent lack of food. Salty stopped before Humphrey and dropped the meat at his feet. He waited until Humphrey started to eat then looked around the den. What he saw disturbed him deeply. Carved multiple times on every wall was the word "Kate." some names were written in large capitol letters while some were written in letters almost too small to read.<p>

There were also a few crude drawings of Kate's face spread out between a few of the names. He looked down at Humphrey's feet and saw that his claws were pretty much ground completely to his pads.

"How do you like it?" Humphrey asked quite suddenly, "I made it all myself."

Salty was surprised. This was the first time he knew of that Humphrey had spoken a word in about a three days, ever since Amina had done her follow up and changed out his bandages but what he said was rather unnerving. His tone was so... happy.

Humphrey simply chuckled and took another bite from the leg. Blood began to pool around Humphrey's paw from where he had ground his claw too far and Salty dipped his head down to inspect it. Humphrey's recent happy and friendly behavior was quickly replaced by that of a rabid dog. So fast was this change that it was almost as if someone had flipped a switch. There was a terrible snarl from Humphrey and he covered his meat defensively, causing Salty to jerk back in alarm. As soon as he pulled away Humphrey began to laugh hysterically.

"Humphrey are you okay?" Salty asked concerned.

Humphrey's ecstatic laughter quickly vanished, replaced by utter seriousness.

"Oh I'm just fine," he said darkly.

Salty backed slowly away from Humphrey then turned and ran quickly out of the den, not stopping or looking back until he was a good distance away. Amina had said to give him time, but apparently that was NOT the right thing to do. Something had gone horribly wrong while Humphrey was left in solitude. Once alone Humphrey smiled and looked around, admiring his work yet again.

"Yes Kate, I think he _did _like it," Humphrey said then turned back and continued to tear at his meal.


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter demonstrates very clearly why this could not be rated T. I will warn you now that what you are about to read is very twisted and may disturb you.**

**EXPLICIT CONTENT**

Salty slid to a stop in the mouth of a small den not far from that of the packs leaders' and looked inside. He couldn't see the wolf he sought, just a bunch of herbs and leaves along with other kinds of different colored solutions laid out on rock made tables.

"Amina?" Salty called into the den.

There was a clatter and she rose from behind one of the tables, a bowl of some unknown substance in her paws.

"Ah, Salty, what brings you here?" she asked as she placed the bowl down on the table nearest to her. She dusted off her paws then walked out to where Salty stood and sat down.

"It's Humphrey," Salty began in a rushed voice.

"What happened?" Amina asked, worry twisting her once smiling face into a concerned frown.

"I don't know," Salty began frantically, " I walk in to see if he would at least eat something and he was actually HAPPY to see me it seemed."

"What's so wrong with that?" Amina questioned, not seeing the problem.

"That wasn't what concerned me," Salty blurted," when I gave him the meat he actually started to eat, which was good. I was thinking that maybe he was finally starting to heal..."

Amina sat listening, waiting for the impending but

"But when I looked around his den..."

Salty had always had a tendency to get worked up whenever he was delivering bad news and it was happening to him now. His legs started to shake and his breath rate peeked. Amina placed a paw on his shoulder, comforting him.

"Salty I need you to calm down," she began slowly, "what did you see?"

Salty pulled himself together then spoke.

"Humphrey used his claws and carved the word "Kate" over just about every inch of wall in his den, and drew pictures of her in the space that he didn't already write on."

Amina's eyes widened.

"And that's not the worst part," Salty continued, "his personality is spiraling out of control. He was so proud of his work that he asked me what I thought of it. Next thing I know there's blood coming from one of his paws, and when I lower my head down to look at it he snarls at me. I jerked my head away quick and he started to laugh, and not in a good way."

Amina nearly jumped to her feet.

"This isn't good," she said and began to sprint over toward Humphrey's den.

Salty rose and followed close behind. Wolves called out to them as they ran through the territory, but they blew them off; Humphrey's condition was much more important at the moment. Some of the wolves found their urgency troublesome and followed, needing to know what their hurry was all about.

Salty, Amina and about seven or eight other members of the pack came to a stop near Humphrey's den, the reason for this being that they could see a fresh trail of blood drops and crimson paw prints going into and coming out of the den. Horrified murmurs began to rise from with in the group. Salty was completely shocked

"I... I was only gone ten minutes," he nearly whispered so great was his fear.

Amina placed a paw on his shoulder to comfort him. After a moment Salty was finally able to calm down. He pressed forward, stopping at the mouth of the den.

"Humphrey?" he called.

He waited in great suspense for a reply. When it didn't come he took a step forward, slowly inching his way inside. Once his body breached the lip he tried again.

"Humphrey?" he called again, this time a warm and foul smell hitting his nostrils.

He wrinkled his nose and continued deeper into the den. Amina instructed the others to stay where they were and followed after Salty. Salty looked all the way to the back of the den finding it empty except for him and Amina. Amina entered the den and looked around, finding a long pool of blood on the ground near the left wall. She ran her eyes up the thin little streams of blood that dripped down to the floor, her eyes stopping once they reached the source. Amina gasped in horror, placing her paw up to her lips. Salty heard the sudden outcry from Amina and turned to her, seeing tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"Amina?" he called and ran quickly over to her side, "Amina what's..."

He cut himself off when he caught sight of the blood and used his eyes to follow it up.

"Oh no," Salty cried in disbelief.

There was a sudden siege of horrified gasps and wails from outside the den.

Salty and Amina whipped their heads around to find the group of wolves backing away as a slender gray wolf with a length of vine coiled around his shoulder made his way through them. He walked with a bad limp from the many self inflicted cuts he had all over his chest, his legs, and his body. His forepaws were doused in blood up to his ankles and he paid no heed to his broken paw. The bandage was removed from that as was the one around his head. The scab he had over his wound was ripped completely off, sending a steady stream of blood rolling down his cheeks and dripping from his chin. He looked left and right at all of the terror he was causing and laughed under his breath.

"Humphrey?" Salty asked in shock.

Humphrey didn't even respond. Instead he simply walked over to where Salty and Amina were standing, the two of them backing away quickly. Humphrey stopped and looked up at his work, thinking deeply. After a moment he found a flaw in his drawing and placed a paw on his head, replenishing his pain supply. He then turned his pad to the wall and corrected the problem, then stepped back, gazing up at it with a proud smile. Once satisfied that he was done, he licked his paws clean and started to limp to the front of the den. Salty tried to stop him, but a sharp growl from Humphrey made him step out of the way. The group of wolves gave him his space as he made his way through them, them stepped into the den to see what was going on. They saw Salty and Amina looking up a wall and did the same, finding a very disturbing sight.

The wall portrayed a smeared picture of Humphrey with his eyes gouged out, the two of them hanging from their stems. His limbs were twisted in all sorts of directions, his ears were nearly gone, the only remnants of them being just a few shreds of skin, obvious that they had been ground off, and his body was cut in almost every place you could imagine. Each wound he drew bled excessively, too much for reality. His mouth was agape, his tongue sticking out, and a sickly yellow liquid of god knows what dripped from his open mouth. Finally, there was a rope tied about his neck running a short length upward until it stopped, tied to a stout tree limb. His beaten body hung about three feet from the ground and crows were picking greedily at his deceased flesh, some of them having already picked areas of his body clean, leaving nothing but patches of bare bone. And underneath all of this was a single word. "GUILTY." Amina and Salty became frantic; they were almost certain that this image was something he planned on doing.

"Where did he go?" the two of them asked quickly and simultaneously.

The wolves all looked at each other and shrugged.

"God damn it!" Salty yelled, "Well didn't any of you at least look to see which direction he went?"

The wolves all stared blankly back at him and he growled angrily under is breath.

"Alright! I need to think! Everyone leave!" Salty demanded and began to ace the floor with his head down.

* * *

><p>Humphrey stumbled over to the place where he wished to end his life and studied the area. It had everything he would need in order to punish himself for what he did.<p>

He had already inflicted cuts to his body, so what was next? Ah, yes.

Humphrey picked up a large rock in his jaws and moved over to a tree, locking his leg against it. He then lifted the rock up high above it and let it fall.

* * *

><p>"Where would he go?" Salty thought out loud, "He didn't say anything before he left and there's no note... Fuck!"<p>

Salty turned and studied the drawing, but there wasn't much to go off of. Salty turned away from it and started banging his head with his paw, trying to think.

"Where in the hell would he go?"

* * *

><p>The rock fell hard onto Humphrey's leg, sending a sickening snap echoing throughout the area. Humphrey could feel the bone rip through his muscle and tear out of his skin, poking out a good four inches from the underside of his leg. Tears filled his eyes, but he didn't cry out. Instead he laughed hysterically, feeling that he was finally getting what he deserved. He let the broken leg fall and placed his other foreleg on the tree, repositioning the rock above it and letting it fall.<p>

* * *

><p>Salty was growling as he thought, his mind beginning to hurt.<p>

Again he stopped.

"Now if I were Humphrey... Where would I go? There's the cliffs of the Falls, but that's not really... then there's... no that wouldn't work either."

Salty continued to rack his brain, pinching his eyes tightly together. He studied the drawing one more time...

"That's it!"

The wolves all gathered around the den saw a flash of gray shoot past them.

"I know where he is but we have to hurry!"

* * *

><p>Humphrey dropped the rock harmlessly to the ground. There was still much work to be done and he couldn't exactly do that if all of his legs were broken could he?<p>

He put his leg down to its original position and sat, picking up the broken one. He looked down at it and smiled, swaying it back and forth and batting it around with his free paw. He let it come to a stop and gripped the bone with his claws, then shoved it back into his leg, the sick churning sounds of ripping flesh sounding loudly in his leg. The pain was incredible, but it had no effect on him.

When he grew tired of playing with his leg he stood, lifting it up as high as it would go and doing his best to tuck it in to his body. There were multiple sensations radiating from his leg; itching, burning, numbness, and deep driving pains of muscle spasms. All of these sensations he ignored though and walked with his leg hanging limply under his chest. When he arrived at the river to begin his next task he stopped and gazed at his reflection.

It was a horrible thing to see, the blood drying to his cheeks being covered in that which still flowed freely, but more slowly, from his head., causing a giant clot to build on both sides of of his face. His nose and was gashed to hell as was the rest of his face, and he could feel the pull of dried blood as it tugged on his fur.

Humphrey smiled down at his reflection, then plummeted his head head under water. For a while he just stood there peacefully, smiling to himself in the now reddening water. After a minute or so his lungs began screaming for air, but he forced his head to stay down, even laughing at his own pathetic attempt to surface. His body began to flail frantically as it tried to pull his head up, but he kept it under. His lungs just couldn't take any more and he breathed in deep, sending water flooding down his wind pipe. Finally he pulled his head up out of the now crimson water, coughing like a child who had just smoked his first cigarette. His head felt light, but his body felt unbearably heavy as he continued to cough. He only gave himself a few seconds before shooting his head back under the water yet again.

* * *

><p>The group flew through the territory, the landscape rushing past them in a huge blur of different colors. They had a pretty solid idea as to where Humphrey was and what he was going to do, that is if he wasn't already doing it. They were steadily running out of time, this knowledge causing a very high level of stress. Their destination wasn't very far from where they were, but the time crunching away against them made it feel like they were still a hundred miles away.<p>

They knew that what Humphrey had planned would take time to carry out, but who's to say that he wouldn't skip a step or two?, and if he did carried it out fully and they did manage to get there in time to stop him from killing himself he would be blind fro the rest of his life, deaf from having no ears, and be better off dead. This attempt truly was all or nothing.

* * *

><p>Humphrey pulled his head out of the water for the fourth time,. Breathing heavily, waterlogged blood running down his face. The cold water had helped to seal off the open wounds on his face and head, making his bleeding just little droplets.<p>

Okay, now that that step was out of the way what was next?

He smiled and limped over to the tree, dropping the vine off of his shoulder and beginning to uncoil it. As he did so he hummed quite a happy sounding tune, hitting a crescendo and reaching a zenith as he laid the vine out in a straight line. He continued humming this melody as he limped over to one end of the vine and began to tie a hangman's noose. Once finished he took the other end into his mouth and flung it over a low lying limb, re ceasing that end and then tying it firmly to the truck of the tree.

He then proceeded to pile rocks under his noose. Once that was done, he stepped up onto it and fed his head through the hole. The way he had this planned, the rocks would fall with the proper movement, rolling, and possibly, hopefully, breaking his ankles. He had it set up so that when he fell the force of it wouldn't be enough to break his neck like most hangings do. Instead he would just hang there, tear out his eyes, then choke to death, thus completing his mortal punishment. It was all so simple; but first things first he had to take care of his ears...

* * *

><p>They were nearly there, just a few hundred yards to go. They were exhausted from the run, but they knew they couldn't slow down. Humphrey's life depended on it.<p>

After what felt like an eternity they closed in enough to see Humphrey, but what they saw ade their hearts sink.

"Oh god no, Humphrey don't!" Salty shouted, followed by a chorus of similar shouts from behind him.

Humphrey heard his name shouted desperately and repeatedly and pulled his head away from the tree.

"Looks like they found me," he said sadly with a sigh, "such a shame I didn't get to complete my plan."

As he finished, he kicked his back legs, causing the pile of rocks to roll out from beneath him.

"NO!" Salty screamed in the distance, ears spilling from his eyes as he ran.

Humphrey fell a short distance and came o an abrupt halt as the vine snapped taught. He felt his wind pipe close immediately, making him cough and gasp for air, his eyes beginning to bulge from lack of oxygen to his head.

Salty flew, his feet barely contacting the ground as he went. Thirty yards...

Humphrey smiled as he gasped for breath, his mind beginning to go black. But before he went there was still one last thing he had to do. He unsheathed a claw from one of his shaking, and unfortunately uninjured paws, and brought it up to his eye.

Before his claw made contact with his eye he felt a jerk on the vine, then the pressure on his throat lessening greatly. Next thing he knew he was falling to the ground, hitting hard brief moments later. He shook his head and stood up, only to be knocked down again by a sudden blow to the head.

"You fucking dumbass!" Salty shouted and struck him again, "What the fuck is wrong with you!"

Humphrey tried to rise but was hit again, making him fall back to his side. He chuckled and opened up his eyes, locking his madness with the rage in Salty's.

"Oh come on Salty, can't you just leave me be," Humphrey mock begged.

Salty hit him again, resulting in just another laugh from Humphrey.

"Come on you pussy! I know you can do better than that! Fucking hit me!" Humphrey taunted.

Salty growled and used his claws this time.

"Wow, I actually felt that one," Humphrey continued to taunt," :But answer me this, how will you..."

Salty kicked him hard in the stomach, causing blood to run out of the corner of his mouth.

"Just leave me alone. Holy fuck," Humphrey began, "If I _wanted_ your paw in my death I would..."

Salty punched Humphrey square in the eye, causing it to immediately swell shut.

"Shut your god damn mouth! You're fucking coming home! Even if that means I have to carry your ass there on my back!"

Humphrey stood up suddenly and made a move at Salty, but Salty side stepped, however, not quick enough to avoid receiving a gash under his right eye.

Salty lost it.

He growled and then spun around, clubbing Humphrey on the side of his head, making him fall. But Salty didn't stop there. Before Humphrey had a chance to stand Salty jumped on top of him and began to beat his face and body again and again with his fists. The other wolves were horrified at the display unfolding before them, finding themselves too shocked to move.

"Come on tough guy! GET THE FUCK UP AND DO SOMETHING!" Salty screamed as he continued to beat Humphrey.

Humphrey no longer laughed. He now yelped and screamed with each brutal blow that fell upon him. Salty reared back and delivered a crushing blow to Humphrey's jaw, and he went limp as he lost consciousness. But Salty didn't stop, all of his pent up frustration finally breaking loose and taking control of his actions. His blows picked up speed and ferocity as they continued to land mercilessly upon Humphrey, his face now covered in baseball sized welts.

"That's enough!" Amina screamed and ran out of the group, tackling Salty and pinning him to the ground.

Salty didn't even try to fight back, but instead, he broke down and began to cry heavily. He sniffed and looked down at his split knuckles and then over at his friend's swollen face and cried harder.

"Oh hod what did I do!" he bellowed, curling up into a tight ball.

What he had just done mad him sick. Humphrey was practically the brother he never had. Salty ALWAYS had his back, and Humphrey his. The two of them had never fought in their lives and now he had just beaten Humphrey to a pulp.

"I'm, I'm so sorry Humphrey!" I was just so... FUUUUUCK!"

Salty bawled harder, gagging on his own sobs and nearly vomiting.

Amina placed a paw on his shoulder to comfort him, but it was of no use. When she removed her paw from him she saw that he had fainted, his loud sobs becoming soft, subconscious sniffles. She gazed sadly down at the pair of unconscious wolves then called two out from the group.

"Come on, let's get these two home."

* * *

><p><strong>A very intense chapter filled with some all new material. The streak of new ideas continues after these messages...<strong>

**As always, stay gold and ask any questions you may have.**

**Happy MLK Day. **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N First of all I'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time after they finish to leave me a review telling me how I did, so thank y'all. Also, I know that there have probably been a lot of questions floating around in your minds as to why everything has happened the way it has... well hopefully some of it will be answered in this chapter, but the most of it will come in the next update. Enjoy.**

Every wolf in the territory was gathered around the feeding grounds, milling about and conversing until all that could be heard was an incomprehensible siege of blended murmurings as each member of the pack tried to make sense of the situation at hand.

An old gray alpha appeared atop a large rock that overlooked the feeding rounds and cleared his throat loudly. The mixed conversations immediately died away and the group of wolves all turned their attention on their leader.

"Now I'm sure that every one of you is aware of why I have called you all here this evening," Winston began slowly.

The group stared, completely silent.

"As your are all aware of the events that took place a few hours ago concerning Humphrey I will not be going into further detail. However, these issues concerning Humphrey need to be addressed as soon as possible."

He paused and looked out across the group with a serious stare. The group of wolves around the feeding grounds all cast each other questioning glances.

"We all know that our friend Humphrey has been slipping and that because of this he has become a danger to himself, and all of you as well. Now with that he has been deemed a threat and is highly dangerous."

the wolves all began to mutter amongst themselves again.

"Now, under normal circumstances," Winston began, the conversations and mutterings becoming silent, "he would face banishment for his actions; but these, my friends, are not ordinary in the least. So now, guys the questions becomes, '"What do we do about a mad wolf?'"

Winston ran his steely gaze over the crowd as they all continued to murmur amongst themselves, the discussions escalating. There was obviously a huge amount of indecision amongst them.

"Note that this is NOT something to take lightheartedly."

* * *

><p>Humphrey had never woken up feeling so bad. He was sore all over his entire body from the beating he took, his head was pounding under its wrap, his leg was killing him, his skin stung from all of the cuts, and he could only see out of one of his eyes. His stomach churned on itself, almost as if it were trying to leap out of his mouth. He swallowed a few times to keep from vomiting and looked around his empty den, the light touching only the front half of the cave telling him that it was some time in the late evening hours.<p>

But he didn't care about that; he had to get back out there and try again. After all, doesn't the saying go "If at first you don't succeed, try try again?"

Humphrey nodded.

"You bet your ass it does, Humphrey; but this time we're gonna have to try things a little bit differently."

He smiled to himself and rolled over, stopping whenever he found that he could not bend his legs or separate them from a single point. Humphrey groaned and looked down at his legs, finding a stout log around each to prevent him from being able to move.

"Looks like we're gonna have to do a little 00Wolf," Humphrey said with a chuckle.

He already knew that this was going to be quite difficult to get out of, but he could do it if he really applied himself.

This wasn't going to be easy; nonetheless, he couldn't get free until he got started. He flipped over onto his back, wincing as some dirt worked its way into his cuts. He then craned his upper body to its max, bringing his tied legs in as close as he could to his jaws. He groaned from being in this unnatural position and could feel a deep, searing burn deep down in his core. After a few moments of this he laid himself out flat with an exhausted exhale, letting himself rest. He lay there panting for about twenty seconds and then tried again, getting the log closest to his mouth to a matter of two inches from his teeth. He strained as hard as he could, bending his body as far as it would go, but it just was not enough. He lay back out again, breathing hard.

There had to be another way...

* * *

><p>The debate had been going on for a good fifteen minutes now, some wolves leaning toward actually trying to help the sick omega, while others suggested that the best course of action would be to just go ahead and put him down. Those of the latter were getting chewed out harshly by those who wished to help, those who wished uthization rebuffing until there was a full out argument at hand. Winston by this time had grown quite tired of the yelling.<p>

"Alright, that's enough!" Winston boomed over the crowd, his voice deep and controlling.

The crowd quieted and turned to face him.

"Have any of you reached an agreement?" Winston asked, his voice now flat with doubt and weariness.

The wolves beneath him all shook their heads, the two opposing groups of opinions growling at each other irritably.

"Ah, this is ridiculous!" a young tan wolf yelled over the group, drawing the center of attention on him, "We've all seen what he did to his den and we all know what he tried to do. If you ask me, he's too far gone. There's no way we'll ever be able to help him."

"No!" yelled another wolf, his voice flat and weak from trauma.

"Salty!" Winston spat in surprise, "Amina told you to..."

Salty simply ignored Winston and moved into the group of wolves, all eyes now focused on him.

"He's not gone," Salty began sternly, "I know he's in there somewhere, all we have to do is find him."

"And how do you suppose we do that?" the tan wolf interjected, "That psychotic bastard would kill you as soon as you let him free."

Salty growled, but bit his tongue to try and contain his anger.

Zach, hold your tongue," Winston snapped at the young wolf.

Zach growled under his breath and quieted down.

"I can help him," Salty continued.

"No you can't!" Zach barked out, "Why can't you just get it through that thick omega skull of yours that there is absolutely NOTHING you could do for him? He needs to be put out!"

"ZACH! One more word out of you and I'll hold you in contempt. Is that understood?"

Zach gritted his teeth and sat.

"But Zach does make a good point," another wolf of a gray coat pointed out.

"What does he have other than a belief?" another argued.

"That's all Salty has too," the gray wolf retorted.

"That's enough," Winston growled annoyed, "Looks like we're gonna have to do this democratically."

The wolves, having done this many times in he past, knew exactly what was about to happen next. Humphrey's fate now rested on a majority vote.

* * *

><p>Humphrey knew of a place where there were rocks sharp enough to cut the bindings off of his feet. The only problem was, how was he supposed to get there? His legs were useless, unless...<p>

Humphrey shifted his back around in a snake like motion, his shoulders moving right while his tail end went left. It seemed to work, he could feel his back scraping painfully against the ground as it slid ever so slightly forward. He smiled triumphantly and moved again, this time arching his back up toward his stomach to limit the amount of areas scraping the ground.

It wasn't but a minute or two before he was half way across the den, then three quarters, then finally he breached the lip of the cave with his head. He waited for a few minutes to make sure that he wasn't being watched then snaked his way to the left, headed out and around the corner of the cave. He continued to wiggle along, his progress steadily growing quicker as he got better hang of his technique.

About ten yards later he stopped, arching his neck up and looking behind him to see a pile of jagged rocks sticking up from the side of the hill in which his den was dug.

He used his shoulders to rejigger his position so that his feet were laying on the pointed rocks and smirked, knowing now that it was only a matter of time before he would be free. He began to wiggle his legs around as best he could, trying to snag the vines on one of the rocks, but was finding it difficult. The only thing that he did manage to do was further cut up his paws. After a few agonizing moments he managed to hang the vines around the tip of a rock. Smiling, he began to work his feet back and forth in a swing motion.

After about ten pulls he felt the vines loosen and his paws separating slightly. Grinning victoriously, Humphrey spread his paws out until the were straight up above him in their natural positions. He then rolled over on his side for a minute so the blood could get back to his legs and rested. All he had to do now was slip the logs off and...

He used his teeth to grab hold of the log on his right leg where it was closest to his shoulder, pushing out with his neck while pulling his leg toward his body. As hard as he pulled and as hard as he pushed the log simply refused to budge. He looked closer at the base ends of the logs and found that they were somehow too thin to pull his paws through.

This was going to be harder than he thought.

* * *

><p>Winston mentally counted up the numbers in each of the two groups standing separate from the other, recounted, and counted a third time just be sure that he hadn't made a mistake. But his count proved his assumptions; they were at a dead even tie. By law it was now up to him to be the tie breaking vote. This was something that he actually hoped he wouldn't have to do.<p>

There was a lot of pressure around this decision, making his head swim.

On one paw there was the Humphrey that he knew, by far his most valuable omega; but on the other paw, that omega was now a psychotic wreck, and was therefore a danger to any and all members of the pack. But Humphrey was also something more to Winston than just a peace keeper; he was the son that he never had. He cared for Humphrey just as much as he did Eve, and Lilly, and Kate; if there was even a snowball of a snowball's chance that Humphrey could be saved he was more than willing to give it a try. Then again, it broke his heart to see Humphrey suffer the way he was.

What was he to do?

Humphrey growled angrily at his tenth failed attempt to pull a least one of his legs free from the grip of the logs, laying over on his side to rest and to think. There was no way he would be able to gnaw through the ogs as they were much too thick and they ran down far past his reach with his limited mobility.

"Got any ideas?" he asked himself aloud.

"Don't look at me bud, I don't have a clue what to do," he answered quickly.

Humphrey growled at his own disability to offer himself help and took a few deep breaths to try and calm down so he could think.

Quite suddenly an idea flashed into his head, making him mentally slap himself. If Amina had re wrapped his head... than she must have put some of that gel stuff on his cuts. If it was as slippery as he thought it looked he could use it as a lubricant and maybe get these damn logs off of him. He inspected his body, finding his assumption to be true; Amina had indeed put some medicine on him. He could see it reflecting the light off of his sides, chest and belly, running down all the way to his thighs. Humphrey briefly thought of how he was going to get to it and figured it out quickly. All he had to do was use his tail.

Winston thought silently for a good three minutes, going over everything that had happened in the past couple of days, thinking hard on every last detail. The two groups of voters watched him in anticipation, eagerly awaiting his decision.

It was like two wires suddenly connected in his mind, causing him to smile as the idea hit.

"I vote that Humphrey shall live," he said finally.

The wolves who lost their vote groaned in anger.

"However," Winston began again, the groaning automatically ceasing, "the issue still needs to be dealt with."

All of the wolves were now extremely curious as to what their leader was going to say next.

"Salty, Amina."

The two raised their heads to him.

"Since you two feel the strongest that he can be saved, he will be under your care."

There was a protest from the group to this, but Winston silenced them.

"I'm not finished," he boomed, "I will give you three weeks, three weeks to have him back to normal. If you fail to heal him in that time i will have no choice but to have him put down, understood?"

As Winston finished his sentence it was noted that he found those words difficult to say.

Salty and Amina nodded and Winston broke up the meeting then left for his den with Eve and Lilly following beside him.

Salty and Amina were both very happy and very worried at the same time. Having Humphrey healed in three weeks would prove to be nothing short of a miracle.

* * *

><p>Humphrey tucked his tail between his legs, brushing lightly around the cuts on his inner thighs. He winced slightly as his tail brushed across his cuts, irritating them, but that was necessary if he was going to escape from these logs. After a moment of the brushing, Humphrey inspected the tip if his tail. As he had hoped, the tip of it was covered in a thick layer of the clear gel substance. He then laid his forelegs straight down his body, knowing that he should be able to reach his paws with his tail. Craning his neck so he could see over his chest, Humphrey moved his tail up to his right paw and ran it across it, covering it pretty effectively with the gel.<p>

Time to see if this would even be worth the trouble. Humphrey smoothed it out evenly across his paw, doing his best to get some between the log and the fur on his foot. Once he did that he brought his leg up above him and took the shoulder end of it in his teeth. Pushing with all the strength he had in his neck and pulling with all of which in his leg, he began again to try and remove the log from his leg. He groaned and grunted, jerking his leg in toward his body. To his great joy, the log slipped halfway down his paw. Humphrey smiled broadly and gave one more hard tug. The log came free and flew off, landing near the bank of the stream. Humphrey inspected his paw for a few moments and nodded his approval. Next was his left leg. He pushed on the log just for the hell of it and felt a deep pain shoot down his entire leg.

"Oops," Humphrey said with a chuckle, "forgot about that. Good thing the paw and the leg match at least," he joked.

He decided to leave that leg alone and move on to the rear ones. He brushed his tail all across his left hip and brought it up, satisfied with the amount of gel. He then ent to applying it to his right hind paw, finishing miments later. Humphrey bowed his body and touched the thigh end of the log with the pad of his paw then began to push, at the same time pulling the hind leg in toward his body. This one was slightly easier and came off with only a three quarter effort, th elog rolling to a stop at his side. Just one more to go.

He heard a splash from somewhere to his left and turned his head quickly through fear that he had been caught. Humphrey ran his eyes along the river bank, his eyes settling on a beautiful auburn colored wolf.

"Kate?"

**A/N Why did I leave y'all with a cliff hanger? I don't know, I just figured that I'd keep you guys guessing. Until next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey y'all, just wanted to tell you that there is officially a main theme for this story and that would be Poison by George Straight. The further we go into this story the more and more the song fits so it just had to be the official song. Anyway, enough of that. Now for the story.**

Humphrey heard a splash from somewhere to his left and whipped his head around to it through fear that he had been caught. He ran his eyes along the bank, his eyes settling on a beautiful auburn colored wolf.

"Kate?" Humphrey asked in total disbelief.

The curves of the auburn wolf suddenly expanded out into the build of a proud alpha male, causing Humphrey to immediately put on his guard, his hackles raising and his upper lip quivering back until they were at the roots of his teeth. The wolf turned to Humphrey with an evil smile disguised perfectly upon his lips with a false friendliness.

"Not quite Humphrey," the wolf said.

"Zach," Humphrey growled with hate seething in his voice.

"Oh Humphrey, I'm hurt," Zach began slyly, "surely you still can't hate me just because of a little friction between our parents."

Humphrey's light growl darkened and became louder as he remembered what this "little friction" had done to his parents. Because of this "little friction" the two of them were buried beside each other right off of Fang's peak. Zach could tell that Humphrey was extremely angry right now, but it seemed to have no affect on him. He simply laughed and began to walk over to Humphrey.

"You git yourself in quite a mess you know," Zach said seemingly worried.

"Ya, I bet you like this sort of thing dontcha Zachary?" Humphrey mocked, "like father like son right?"

Zach bit back a growl and simply decided to move on to the next thing.

""Please Humphrey, give me a chance here. I know what my father did and I'm not proud of him for it, but I just thought that maybe we could bury these old feelings of hate for each other and start over as friends; cause believe it or not, I worry about you."

Zach nearly choked on his own words, but he did really well to not show.

Humphrey still didn't buy.

"Man Zach," Humphrey spat between a chuckle, "you're so full of shit you got it dripping out of your ears."

Zach bit his tongue to try and keep control of it. If he said what he wanted to say this whole deal would bust.

"How can I prove you that I just wanna help you?" Zach begged.

Humphrey considered this, thinking long and hard about it.

"_Humphrey, should I trust him?"_

"_Yes, you should."_

"_But why? That guy's a total dick."_

"_Exactly Humphrey. That's why you should let him help you, then once your free and get an opportunity..."_

Humphrey had to force himself not to smile, seeing where he was going with this.

"_You take it."_

"_Now you're talking Humphrey. See to it that he never walks away from here again."_

Humphrey looked over at Zach.

"You can help by getting this log off of my leg," Humphrey said, pointing to his hind leg with his paw.

Zach saw the log he was talking about, then caught the one on his front leg.

"And what of the other one?" he asked.

"Don't touch that one. It stays with me."

Zach arched an eyebrow confusedly, then remembered what had happened to Humphrey's leg.

"Right."

Zach, under a very close watch from Humphrey, moved over to Humphrey's hind legs and took hold of the log with his teeth, beginning to pull.

Humphrey yelped and jerked his leg away and Zach's teeth were nearly ripped out of his gums.

"What the hell Humphrey!" he demanded, wincing and running his tongue over his teeth to make sure that they were all still there.

"You're not gonna get it off like that," Humphrey advised, "the hole is too small for my paw to slip through. You'll have to get some medicine off of me and rub it between the log and my foot."

Zach furrowed his brows in confusion. Humphrey saw this and rolled his eyes impatiently.

"The shiny stuff in my fur is some kind of anti infection stuff, but it's made out of a slippery gel."

Zach saw what Humphrey was talking about and did as he was instructed, feeling pretty awkward having to rub down another male. Once there was a substantial amount of the gel on his paws he did his best to get it between the log and Humphrey's paw. Once that was accomplished, he wiped his paws clean on the ground and once again took the log into his teeth.

"_This had better be worth it," _Zach thought bitterly.

He pulled back, Humphrey at the same time pulling his leg toward his body. With a great amount of effort the log popped free, sending Zach staggering back a few paces. Humphrey rolled to his feet, this task made slightly difficult due to the log still about his foreleg. Once Humphrey was situated solidly on his feet he limped over to Zach.

"Thanks," Humphrey said reaching out with his paw.

"Hey, what are friends for anyhow?" Zach replied casually, reaching out and placing his paw on top of Humphrey's in a way of shaking.

As soon as Zach's paw made contact with Humphrey's, Humphrey snapped, quickly going from friendly and happy to snapping Zach' wrist. Zach cried out in pain causing Humphrey to laugh in satisfaction.

* * *

><p>Salty and Amina were quietly discussing methods and remedies to try and help Humphrey break free from the madness that had taken over his mind when they heard a loud snap followed by an even louder scream of pain. The two looked at each other quickly, each one signaling with their eyes the same message.<p>

"Humphrey."

* * *

><p>Humphrey held Zach's wrist tightly in his closed paw, waiting for Zach to look up at him. Zach finally did so and Humphrey laughed, unsheathing a single claw and putting it at the bridge of Zach's nose.<p>

"You think I'm a fool Zach?" Humphrey asked, his claw hovering right between Zach's eyes.

Zach jerked himself free and took a defensive stance, abnormally sloppy as if he were already planning to lose. This thought, however, never reached Humphrey, who took advantage of the situation provided and bolted in. Zach stepped to the side, but didn't get out of the way quick enough. Humphrey reached out with beside his body as he passed and snagged Zach's skin with his claws, spinning him around and bringing Zach with him. Zach yelled in pain as he rolled to the ground. Humphrey was on his feet quicker than he had ever done before and flashed over to Zach just as he was trying to gain his footing. Humphrey slapped Zach's face with his claws, rolling the alpha over onto his side. From here Humphrey began to beat him mercilessly, landing blows everywhere upon Zach's body and face. After he had been doing this for a while he stopped, placing a claw on Zach's throat.

"Come on Humphrey, show me exactly what you're made of," Zach taunted, coughing and spitting blood.

Humphrey smiled with pleasure seeing Zach beaten so badly.

"All in good time Zach," Humphrey mused.

Humphrey applied more pressure to Zach's throat, blood beginning to run from where his claw was piercing Zach's neck. Zach was unfazed by this and smiled up at Humphrey, spitting up into his face. This action enraged Humphrey, pushing him over the edge. With a quick slashing motion he slit Zach's throat, blood squirting out all over Humphrey's face and paws. Humphrey laughed as his opponent lay coughing and choking on his own blood.

"Humphrey! What are you doing!" a voice yelled behind them.

Humphrey turned to the voice and saw Salty and Amina sprinting toward them at a closing distance of maybe a hundred and fifty yards. Sudden raspy coughs of laughter from Zach brought Humphrey's attention back to him.

"What's so funny," Humphrey demanded, squeezing Zach's gashed throat.

Zach gained control of the pain in his neck, laughing more, then giving Humphrey a small smirk.

"You wanted this to happen you son of a bitch!"

"That's right," Zach choked weakly, his voice gurgling from his bleeding throat, "now there's no way in hell that old fool Winston will allow you to live. You may have taken my life, but in the end I've won. .."

Humphrey's eyes narrowed, boring his hatred into his dying enemy.

Zach coughed.

"I'll be waiting for you in Hell," Zach mused, his last breath escaping his lungs as he slowly relaxed and lay still.

"I'll meet you there," Humphrey replied flatly.

"Salty and Amina arrived and pulled Humphrey away from Zach, looking down at his bleeding and lifeless form.

"Humphrey, what have you done?" Salty and Amina both asked simultaneously.

"I killed him, what does it look like," Humphrey replied smugly, smiling emotionlessly back at them.

Salty and Amina stared on in shock. Humphrey had just murdered a wolf in cold blood, a crime punishable by death in this territory; and to make matters worse, he didn't even care.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to clean up this mess," Humphrey said wiping his paws on the fur on his chest.

He then walked over to Zach's body, bending down to grab the dead wolf by the scruff of his neck.

"Alright Humphrey STOP!" Salty shouted suddenly.

Humphrey lifted his head annoyed, turning to Salty with an expressionless gaze.

"This isn't you Humphrey," Salty said in a serious tone, "look inside yourself Humphrey. You know who you are."

Humphrey smiled back evilly.

"Damn straight I know who I am, and I'm fucking proud. Now either help me out or leave."

This time it was Amina who spoke.

"Humphrey, we can't allow you to do this," she stated regretfully, "by law we are supposed to take you to Winston and Eve.

Humphrey realized the gravity of the situation he was in and smiled, laughing to himself.

"Can you believe I fell for it?" he asked.

"Fell for what?" Amina and Salty pressed.

"I wasn't talking to you," Humphrey spat, causing Salty and Amina to cast each other worried glances.

"Oh well, at least Zach got what was coming to him," Humphrey replied to himself, this voice only slightly different from that of his own.

"You bet Humphrey. Now make sure that you honor his death by holding true to your agreement."

Humphrey nodded and laid down on his back, pushing his paws to a single point above him.

"Alright, I'm ready," Humphrey said, "Just tie me and leave me in my den until you get back."

Salty and Amina looked at Humphrey sadly. They knew what would come of this, but if they abided him by covering up the murder they would be considered accessories; and having no system of imprisonment they would die along with him. Amina then made the first move, taking her leave to find some vines, leaving salty to keep an eye on Humphrey. Once she was out of sight and earshot, Humphrey rolled clumsily to his feet, alarming salty who began to back step away.

Humphrey smiled.

"You fear me don't you?" Humphrey questioned darkly.

Salty gave no response, continuing to back up, sheer terror masking his face. He now knew exactly what his friend was capable of doing and this scared him to death.

"Why is it that you fear me so?" Humphrey continued to question, walking slowly toward Salty.

Salty continued to back up, keeping his fearful eyes glued to Humphrey. Humphrey continued yo press forward, driving Salty further back. Salty suddenly stopped when he felt something bump his tail. He turned frightfully behind him and found that he had been backed up into a wall. Humphrey smirked and slowly began to close the distance between them, his eyes blazing in the light of the sun. After what felt seemed like eternity to Salty, Humphrey finally came face to face with Salty, standing ominously before him. Humphrey leaned in closer, causing Salty to press himself as far into the wall as he could. Humphrey chuckled and lowered his head even with Salty's, unsheathing a claw and studying it quizzically.

Salty's heart raced, his breaths becoming sharp and ecstatic as panic began to flood into him. Humphrey finished studying his claw and began to sharpen it on the wall right next to Salty's head, finishing then brushing it clean with his other paw.

Salty cringed, burying his face in his arms. Humphrey lowered his claw down slowly toward Salty's face. Salty began to whimper, his fear reaching its max. Humphrey loudly, this evil sound booming forth erratically, then turned and lumbered his way over to where he was laying earlier, rolling over onto his back with a bored groan. Salty dared to pry his eyelids open. Seeing that Humphrey had gone, he released the breath he didn't know he was holding and placed a paw on his chest, slumping to the ground overwhelmed with relief.

By this time Amina arrived with a length of vine around one of her shoulders. She saw Humphrey laying alone where she had left him and this concerned her. Humphrey cleared his throat, gaining her attention. Amina looked at him and he jerked his head in Salty's direction. Amina whipped her head fearfully around, finding Salty lying on the ground, breathing hard, his eye wide with fear.

"What happened?" she asked him worried.

"I don't know," Humphrey began innocently, secretly trying to bite back a laugh, "but the poor guy looks as though he's seen a ghost."

Humphrey couldn't contain his laughter any longer and it erupted from his throat. Amina narrowed her eyes at him angrily.

"Salty, are you okay?" she asked concerned, arriving at his side and helping him to his feet.

Salty continued to breath hard but nodded his head.

"Well, don't keep me waiting here all day," Humphrey butted in, waving his still free paws above him.

Amina looked over at Salty who gave her an affirming nod that told her to go ahead. She cautiously approached Humphrey, who watched her with a big stupid grin. Once she was at his side she dropped the vine down in front of her and took an end in her paws. She then tied a knot around Humphrey's front right paw and began to wrap the rest of the vine around the others.

"Make sure you get that good and tight," Humphrey commanded.

Amina growled her frustration, but didn't snap the vines taught like Humphrey had anticipated her to. Once she was finished wrapping the vines she tied another knot, thus securely binding Humphrey.

"Great work Amina," Humphrey complimented.

Amina gritted her teeth and turned to Salty, who had just calmed down enough to breath normally.

"Salty, could you go and find e a long limb that's about three inches thick?" she asked him.

Humphrey laughed as Salty disappeared.

"Oh I get it. You're gonna carry me back to the feeding grounds like some kind of cannibalistic sacrifice."

Humphrey laughed again and started to sing, doing his best to imitate an ancient celebratory chant. He got half way through and erupted with laughter again. Amina rolled her eyes, doing her best to ignore him. Humphrey continued to laugh, stopping when he could no longer breath. By this time Salty reappeared, dragging with him a long thick branch. Humphrey and Amina watched as he dragged it over to them, stopping three feet away and dropping it to the ground.

"Excellent work Salty," Humphrey said sarcastically.

Salty looked up, breathing hard and halfheartedly mouthed "fuck you."

Humphrey read Salty's lips and laughed lightly.

"You name the time and the place big boy," Humphrey teased.

Salty's face deepened into a frown and he nodded to Amina, needing to go ahead and get Humphrey fixed. The two went to each end of the log, moving it so that the front of it was at Humphrey's back end. From there they fed it between his legs, being careful not to drop it on him. Once that was accomplished, Amina moved around to Humphrey's, producing some kind of rock looking things. Wasting no time she forced them into his open mouth, causing Humphrey to thrash about in protest. After a while Humphrey calmed, his senses starting to become abnormally vague. He was beginning to feel foggy, his vision blurring and losing focus. He shook his head and blinked his eyes, trying to figure out what was happening. After a few seconds he looked up to Amina.

"What... What did you..."

The world around Humphrey fell dark as he lost consciousness.

"I'm sorry Humphrey."

Salty and Amina moved to each end of the log and picked it up onto their shoulders, transporting Humphrey into the middle of his den. There they carefully set him down and took the log out. They stood for a minute, staring at each other, regretting what they had to do next.

"We better go get Winston," Salty mused, his voice flat.

Amina nodded and looked down at Humphrey's seemingly lifeless form.

"Everything feels so wrong," Amina cried, "he didn't deserve for any of this to happen to him."

"No he didn't," Salty began sadly, "but the game of life is hard to play, and in the end it is one that we are all destined to lose. For him though..."

Amina hung her head in sorrow, knowing full well what Salty was saying. There was no denying it now. For Humphrey, the game was over.

* * *

><p><strong>I know this has probably been just the same old shit for a while, but that's over now. Stay tuned for a twist that will rock your world! For now though I think this bit of news will have to do. I have officially decided to shoot for 20 chapters with this story, which thrills me and hopefully does the same for you. Let me know what y'all think of this.<strong>

**I also have some trivia for ya. Salty's line "the game of life is hard to play," was not one of my own creation. This line was featured in a song written for a movie some time in the 80's. Can anybody guess? If there is a correct answer, the winner will get a giant cake that says "WINNER" along with some other neat stuff. (if only it were really that easy.) **


	7. Chapter 7

**Alright, so we have a winner on the trivia. Congratulations to Kilobravo1 for being the first to answer correctly and props to Samsonite. Wolfe for being the second runner up. The song for those of you who didn't know was Suicide Is Painless and it was featured in the movie MASH in the 70's, not the 80's. That was my bad. Anyway awesome that I got some good reviews last chapter, let's see if I could get some more now that we have arrived at the big twist... **

**EXPLICIT CONTENT AND VIOLENCE**

* * *

><p><em>The night air was crisp and it felt quite pleasant in comparison to the stuffy air in the train car; but this was something that Humphrey had little interest in. The only thing he was focused on, the only thing he ever wanted, lay curled up in a sleeping ball not but a few yards away.<br>_

_A large lighted orange sign loomed in the distance and steadily grew until it rushed past his head and he let out a deep sigh before he pulled his head back inside the train car. For a moment he sat and stared at the sleeping form of Kate, gazing deeply at her amber gold fur that was being brilliantly illuminated by the soft blue rays of the moon. She had never looked more beautiful to him, and never before had the pull on his heart been so strong. Humphrey continued to stare softly at his sleeping companion and thought silently to himself._

_'_I know I shouldn't be feeling this way about her, it goes against everything stated in the sacred laws of the pack." the voice of reason in his head told him, "And besides, she's an alpha. There's not a snowball's chance that she would ever feel the same way that I do about her.'

_Humphrey turned slowly and watched the familiar territory roll swiftly past._

_'_Home._'_

_With a sigh Humphrey broke out of his thoughts and lowered his muzzle down toward Kate, pausing briefly with still a few more inches until his nose would meet Kate's fur._

'I need to tell her how I feel, but how?'

"_Kate," Humphrey whispered and rubbed his muzzle on the side of her neck, "Kate, wake up. Wake up."_

_Kate groaned and blinked her tired eyes open._

"_Humphrey?" she asked before stretching her lean body to its max. "Where are we?" she asked when finished._

"_We're, we're in Jasper," Humphrey replied sullenly._

_Kate stole a look out into the night and saw the land she grew up in roll past. She straightened up and took a seat next to Humphrey in front of the opening to the car._

"_Well, we're home," Kate said looking down at her paws._

"_Yup, we're home," was Humphrey's slum reply._

_The pair of wolves sat for a silent moment, each one deep in thought. Their minds were screaming at them to say something, but the both of them were shoulder deep in doubt. After a few more seconds in a thick silence the two quickly turned to face each other, each one wanting desperately to tell the other what their mind screamed at them to say._

"_There's something I," the two began simultaneously and paused to nervously laugh._

"_Please, you first," Humphrey said, his aqua blue eyes dancing into and away from Kate's amber gaze._

"_Humphrey," Kate began slowly, "I just wanted to tell you, that these past couple of days have been kind of... fun, and you've been kind of... fun."_

"_Really," Humphrey replied brightly._

"_Really," Kate answered with a small grin._

"_Well... that's... that's great. I told you, we make a pretty good team," Humphrey said and began to nervously fumble with his paws._

"_We do," Kate agreed with a small nod._

_Humphrey took in a breath to try and build some courage._

"_Okay, um... well..." he stuttered and continued to fumble with his paws._

_Kate saw this and stopped him with a chuckle._

"_No, no... don't tell me. You have to go to the bathroom again."_

"_Why? Do you see a truck stop?" Humphrey replied in a corny fashion._

_'_Come on, just three simple words. I. Love. You.'

"_I just wanted to tell you... I... I..."_

_'_Love you._'_

_Kate smiled and chuckled, beginning to turn her head to look out of the car._

"_Kate I... I love you!" Humphrey blurted out quite suddenly._

_Kate whipped her head around to face him, not entirely sure if she had heard him right._

* * *

><p><strong>Jasper Valley<strong>

* * *

><p><em>On both sides of the valley two large packs of wolves were snarling and barking ferociously at the group across from them. The Western leader, Winston had just spoken and now it was the Eastern leader Tony's turn to answer.<em>

"_All I asked was for you to follow our customs, unite the packs. But no, your daughter had to up and run away."_

"_My..."_

_There was a long lonely whistle as the Canadian Express' last car rolled lazily past the warring group._

* * *

><p><strong>Canadian Expression<strong>

* * *

><p>"<em>What did you say?" Kate asked with a look of shock on her face.<em>

_'Had I heard him right? Did Humphrey say what I think he just said?'_

_Humphrey's aqua gaze danced in and out of her's again._

"_I... I said I... I love you Kate."_

_Kate's eyes grew bigger around than the moon to which they had howled. Humphrey sighed and turned his head in defeat._

'He... loves me?'

"_You... said that you... love me?"_

_Humphrey turned his head back and looked her dead in the eyes._

"_Yes, I do. I love you Kate. Ever since we were pups I wanted to tell you how I felt, but I was always so afraid that you would just..."_

_Humphrey was interrupted by something he had always dreamt of. Kate's soft lips pressed firmly against his, startling him at first, but after a few seconds he regained himself and returned it with his eyes lightly closed. After a few seconds of this, Kate slowly pulled her head away, leaving Humphrey sitting with his eyes still closed._

"_Humphrey," Kate began, trying to choke back her tears._

_Humphrey slowly opened his eyes and saw that Kate's had tears brimming the bottoms and rolling down her cheeks._

"_I've always loved you," Kate said and pressed her lips against his once again._

* * *

><p><strong>Jasper Valley<strong>

* * *

><p><em>Winston waited until the whistle died away into the distance then swiveled his head back to the front.<em>

"_Tony, you have nothing to gain by getting yourself killed," Winston began slowly, yet intimidatingly, "I will give you one last chance to stand down and you can still leave outta here with dignity."_

_The wolves on Tony's side of the valley chuckled loudly, obviously amused with Winston's previous statement._

"_No. We are taking back what belongs to us."_

_The wolves behind Tony growled threateningly and the wolves behind Winston returned them with growls that were equally as ferocious. Tony let his hate filled glare bore into Winston's then threw back his head, howling the command to move forward and attack. He and the wolves behind him leapt down from their perches and began flooding across the valley floor. Winston leapt down and his group followed right behind him as they swept across the ground, growing closer and closer to the approaching enemy._

_Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Winston and Tony were the first to make contact with each other, snarling and leaping in for an effective attack. There was a metallic click as the two's teeth slammed into the other's and the first blood was scored upon their fangs from the slashing of gums. The other wolves were soon to follow, colliding with the opposing forces in a flurry of snarls, growls and cries of pain. Wolves whirled and parried attacks from all sides, some, like Eve, were stuck having to fend off two wolves at once. _

_She would turn on one and the other would circle around and jump on her back, only to be bucked off before anything harmful could be done. The two wolves moved to each side of her and jumped in. Eve timed her move perfectly, waiting until she could practically feel their breath before she rolled away. The two wolves had no time to react and slammed into each other. Eve seized her opportunity and flew in, grabbing one by the back leg and swinging him around into the other. The wolf that was hit cried out and flew a few feet, meeting his death by the fangs of an unattended Candu. _

_Eve used her 'wolf club' on a few more of her enemies before the leg finally pulled free from it's socket and ripped off on the next swing. The three legged wolf flew for a few feet and crashed down hard on the ground and lay dead. Nobody wanted very much more to do with Eve, but she and Winston would have to be eliminated if their cause were to turn out victorious._

_But little did they know of the trouble that was brewing about four miles down the valley..._

* * *

><p><strong>Canadian Expression<strong>

* * *

><p><em>Kate pulled away from the kiss again with tears in her eyes.<em>

"_Humphrey," she choked._

_Humphrey opened his eyes again and locked them with Kate's_

"_Humphrey, I've always loved you, but please try to understand..."_

_Humphrey looked at her with a worried look._

"_Understand what?" he asked nervously._

_Kate turned her head away and began to cry. Humphrey ran over to her side._

"_Kate, What's wrong? Did I..."_

_Kate sniffled and turned to him._

"_No, It's not you," she sobbed._

_Humphrey was still confused._

"_Kate... What's..."_

_Kate started to sob loudly, burying her head under her paws._

_This action, however, went horribly wrong. They came to a bend just as soon as she did so and her momentum started to carry her forward. Kate, being in the position that she was in, had no time to react and ineffably slid forward and out of the car. Thinking fast, Humphrey leapt to his feet and snagged her tail into his teeth. However, his strength just wasn't enough and the two tumbled out of the car, rolling and bouncing down a shallow dirt hill and coming to a rest near the very edge of the valley. There they found themselves with Humphrey back down and Kate laying on top of him, their noses only a hair's width away from touching. Kate, as always, looked shocked in seeing him so close to her, causing Humphrey to smile. Kate's face turned hot and he quickly pulled away, stepping back a way. _

_Humphrey rolled slowly to his paws and came to a sitting position, Kate sitting down a few feet away with her head low in defeat. For a long moment the two sat in a prolonged silence, neither one of them making eye contact with the other. Humphrey opened up his mouth to speak, but closed it when he heard a sharp snarl of pain from his left. The two turned to face the sound, and Kate immediately knew what was going on. _

"_Oh no," Kate whispered, rising to her paws, Humphrey rising to his own and locking a worried gaze with her._

"_What is it," Humphrey asked, unaware of the situation at hand._

"_The packs are fighting," Kate quickly replied, beginning to sprint in the direction that they lived. _

_Humphrey quickly followed suit, following a short distance behind due to the fact that he was an omega and being so, was considerably slower._

_There was another sharp cry and a few seconds came a distant rumble from the right side of the valley. Humphrey stopped and turned his head to face the rumble, Kate obviously oblivious to the sound, keeping on her quick pace. Humphrey squinted and a large black mass started to come into view from the middle of the valley, making his heart sink._

"_Oh no."_

_Seizing every ounce of strength he had, Humphrey turned and flew in the direction that Kate was going, his feet carrying him at breakneck speeds._

* * *

><p><strong>Jasper Valley<strong>

* * *

><p><em>Completely oblivious to the impending danger, the two groups of wolves continued to tear mercilessly at each other. Both sides had lost a considerable amount of wolves, the bodies beaten so badly that they could hardly be recognized, littered the ground, puddles and multiple drops of blood splattered out across the ground and upon every wolf. Hutch locked his teeth onto the foreleg of one of his foes, flipping him over onto his back and pinning him down. In an instant, the pinned wolf had his throat ripped out, his blood spurting out onto the ground like some kind of fountain from hell. Hutch spit the tissue like flesh out of his mouth and was sideswiped by another of the Eastern wolves, pinned and ended, his life blood rolling out onto the ground and his eyes becoming nothing more than lifeless orbs.<em>

**Kate and Humphrey. One Mile From The Territory.**

_Humphrey flew, his mind set on only one thing. Up in the closing distance he saw the fleeing rear end of Kate and he dug down deep, pushing himself faster._

"_KATE!" he yelled out as loud as his choppy breaths would allow._

_Kate kept going, oblivious to his calls._

_Humphrey closed in a little and tried again, again with no luck._

_Finally on the third try, his call fell upon Kate's ears, making her slow only slightly and turn._

"_Humphrey there's no time to slow down!" she yelled and turned back, returning to her original pace._

"_No, Kate!" Humphrey yelled again._

"_WHAT! Can't you just hold back or something?" Kate yelled agitated._

"_We need to move faster and warn the packs!" Humphrey called._

"_Warn them of what?" Kate demanded coldly._

"_That!" Humphrey replied, jerking his head back over his shoulder._

_Kate slid to a stop and turned around, looking behind the running omega._

_What she saw nearly made her stomach jump out of her throat. _

_The stampede was only a few feet behind Humphrey and steadily gaining, the first caribou now overtaking Humphrey's position._

"_Come on Humphrey, we gotta move!" Kate yelled desperately._

_Humphrey pushed himself as fast a he could go, his legs finally losing all feeling as the movement turned into muscle memory. _

_Half a mile..._

* * *

><p><strong>Jasper Valley<strong>

* * *

><p><em>Hutch's death would not go unavenged. <em>

_Candu saw the body of his best friend, twitching upon the ground, his killer standing proudly over the body. Candu's eyes turned to a fiery green and he growled in a full blown rage. He lowered his head and sprinted toward the unsuspecting wolf, knocking any who tried to stop him aside. With a snarl he leapt in, teeth bared, blood dripping from the tips of his claws. The wolf was slammed hard on the side and rolled over three times before coming to rest on his back. Before he had time to react and recover, Candu was standing over him, his upper lip drawn back to the roots of his glistening teeth. Candu slapped him hard in the side of the face, carving three scars along his cheek. The wolf howled in pain and Candu finished him off by carving out his abdomen. Blood and organs rolled freely out of the wound, forming a massive pool of gore around him. Candu smiled, stepping off of him and finding another assailant to do battle with. _

_Winston and Tony were holding strongly against each other, both however receiving heavy damage from the other. Winston circled and swiped his foreleg at Tony, but Tony managed to get his head out of the way just in the nick of time. Tony then sprung forward with his head down and landed a stiff blow to the middle of Winston's chest. Winston flipped over backwards, rolling once and settling on his side. Tony wasted no time, running quickly over to his fallen foe while the opportunity was still at hand. Winston got his feet under him, but a violent kick to his side made him jerk back over to his hips. Tony then placed a paw on Winston's throat._

"_I liked you Winston," he said smugly, "but this shit has gone on far too long."_

_Tony slowly started to lower his head to deliver the final blow that would win the territory and Winston closed his eyes in acceptance of his fate. Winston could feel the sharp pricks of teeth on the vulnerable flesh under his chin, then the steady increase of pressure that slowly began to squeeze the life out of him._

_A sudden chorus of yelling from an undisclosed location caused Tony to lift his head and a lot of the battle to die off._

"_GET OUT NOW!" they heard a familiar voice yell._

"_Kate?" Winston asked in total shock._

"_STAMPEDE! STAMPEDE!" another voice yelled._

_The wolves were all so stunned that the warning they received of the impending danger didn't register until it was too late. There was a low rumble and a sharp yelp of pain, followed by another, and another still, then cries of panic and terror rung out as wolves began to flee. Every available head whipped in the direction of the sounds and they saw a wall of caribou rushing toward them. Winston picked himself up quickly and began to flee._

"_EVERYONE MOVE!" he screamed at the top of his lungs._

"_RUN!" Tony yelled equally as loud._

_The wolves all turned and quickly made a run for either side of the valley. Eve appeared at Winston's side with a horrified Lilly in tow and the three sprinted toward the side. Lilly tripped and fell down, the wall of caribou growing steadily closer. Winston and Eve stopped, turning back to their downed daughter._

"_EVE GO! I'LL CATCH UP!" Winston yelled to his mate._

"_I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" Eve yelled back._

_Winston knew there was no changing his mate's mind and absolutely no time to argue._

"_COME ON!"_

_The two turned and flew to Lilly who was struggling to get to her feet. Winston and Eve got n either side of her and pushed her to her feet, dragging her along as quick as they could. But by now they were trapped with nowhere to run but forward._

_Humphrey and Kate slid to a stop when they saw the dilemma unfold beneath them._

"_Humphrey we have to help them!" Kate yelled frantically, racking her mind desperately for a solution as to how. _

"_Kate look!" Humphrey yelled at her.,_

_Kate whipped her head around and saw what Humphrey was talking about, a tree split perfectly down the middle, hollowed out until it was the perfect shape of a log sled, hung over a cliff._

"_Kate come on!" Humphrey yelled running toward it._

_Kate followed, running abreast with Humphrey._

"_On three, jump onto the sled!" Humphrey ordered._

_Kate simply gulped and nodded._

"_ONE, TWO... THREE!" Humphrey screamed and the two flew through the air landing perfectly in the sled._

_As soon as they hit, the end on the cliff gave and they began to fly forward down the mountain._

_Winston, Eve and Lilly were beyond physical exhaustion, the only thing keeping them going being a massive wave of adrenaline that coursed through their bodies. They continued to flee helplessly across the valley floor, the caribou steadily gaining ground on them. They had no idea that help was on the way, each one as sure as the one fleeing beside them that this was surely the end._

_Humphrey and Kate slid swiftly down the mountain dodging rocks and trees alike until the stampede and Kate's family came in to view. _

"_KATE! HARD LEFT!" Humphrey screamed, the two of them jerking the right side of the sled up._

_The sled turned sharply, hitting a ramp and launching them into the air, sending them out in front of the moving herd to try and intercept Kate's family before harm could be done upon them._

_Winston saw a shadow move before him and he turned his head up to see what it was, Eve and Lilly doing the same. They could not believe what they saw; Humphrey and Kate flying through the air on half of a log. They followed the log down with their eyes until it hit about ten feet in front of them, front side first and smashed to pieces, sending Kate and Humphrey flying unprotected and landing in the middle of the torrent of hooves. Winston, Eve and Lilly dove to cover behind a large shard of the log, gazing worriedly out at the spot where their daughter and Humphrey landed. They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the two bellying toward them, Humphrey making a jump and landing to safety. Humphrey turned out and saw Kate attempting the same jump, but she never made it. As she rose to leap, a hoof smashed into the side of her head._

"_KATE!" Humphrey screamed and rushed out to her._

_Kate rolled off of her side and stood with her head down, pumping her legs. She was hit again by another hoof and tumbled over a few times, then rolled to her feet and turned a barrel roll, landing it and then rolling over and flailing her legs in the air. Humphrey expertly dodged the hooves watching as she jumped up into the air, him leaping forward. He arrived in time to catch her and she quickly became lifeless in his arms. He immediately broke down into tears, a caribou hoof making a hard contact with his shoulder, thus knocking him over. Winston and Eve leapt up onto either side of the log and lashed out at the caribou, averting their path away from the two wolves in the open. As the last caribou ran past with a displeased grunt the three rushed out to Humphrey and Kate, Humphrey picking himself up and immediately getting to Kate's side. He picked up her head into his paws and pulled her face into his chest, crying loudly. Eve rushed forward and pulled Humphrey off of her, shoving him out of the way and inspecting her daughter. She saw the lifeless body of Kate and she became overwhelmed with emotion._

"_You son of a bitch!" she screamed with tears in her eyes._

_She flashed over to Humphrey and slapped him hard across the face, gashing his cheek to the bone. She drew back for another hit, but was tackled by Winston before she could hit him again._

"_GET OFF OF ME!" Eve screamed, fighting to get free._

"_Eve, please," Winston begged, but she wasn't going to listen to reason._

"_NO THIS MOTHERFUCKER KILLED MY DAUGHTER!"_

"_EVE!"_

"_NO! SHE'S DEAD! KATE'S DEAD!" she screamed and broke down into tears._

"_I know, Evelyn, I know," Winston said as he laid his head down on top of hers and began to cry with her._

_Humphrey sat at a distance with his head hung down and tears streaming down his muzzle._

_She was dead, the love of his life was dead. Something built up inside of him and he had to let it go. He threw back his head and howled a long, low, and sad howl, Lilly joining in with him. Other wolves sat down and howled their mournful song along with them, Winston and Eve finding it still too much to handle still crying in each other's embrace. Tony stood at a distance, his head hung low in shame. If he hadn't have been so stubborn this whole thing could have been avoided, the packs could have found a way to peacefully unite, and Kate would probably still be alive; none of this would have never happened. He sat down and howled along with the rest of the two packs, wishing now more than anything that his song could bring her back; but he knew that it wouldn't. The group's howl lasted for a solid three minutes, mourning the loss of not only Kate, but the loss of their fellows, their brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers... their mates. Tony walked slowly up to the still crying parents and placed his paw on Winston's shoulder as a means of comfort. Winston looked up to Tony with tears in his eyes, locking his gaze with his former enemy's._

_Tony couldn't find the words to describe how sorry he was for not seeing his own selfishness until something such as this happened. In the end he simply rubbed Winston's shoulder briefly then turned._

"_Eastern wolves, back home" he muttered just loud enough for the remainder of his group to hear._

_The Eastern pack turned and followed slowly behind their leader, their heads low and their tails tucked between their legs. As Tony walked, he decided then that he would swallow his pride and work out a peaceful solution that would join the two packs without forcing marriage upon two who did not love each other._

* * *

><p><strong>The scene fades away and we now move back to reality<strong>

* * *

><p>Humphrey's senses started to slowly return to him, the first being feelings of motion and sound. He could feel his body was upside down, swaying back and forth and he could hear unclear murmurings from a group of six to eight wolves echoing around in his head. He groaned, his stomach churning. The next sense to return to him was his sight. He slowly peeled his eyes open and closed, seeing nothing but distorted blurs moving in sync with his body as it rocked from side to side. He shook his head and tried to speak, but all he could find the strength to muster was a soft groan.<p>

Humphrey blinked his eyes heavily, trying to clear his vision and after a long moment spent engaged in this he could finally see enough to get an understanding as to what was going on. He saw that he was hanging upside down from a log, bound by his paws with thick vines. He looked skowly to his left, seeing that he had a group of three wolves walking at his flank, Salty among them.

"S-Salty!" Humphrey cried weakly, his voice barely audible.

But Salty ignored him, not even acknowledging that he had heard. Humphrey looked desperately to his right, finding Amina walking with a couple of wolves.

"Amina... please... help me." Humphrey begged weakly, but Amina ignored his cry as well.

Humphrey let himself hang limp, disappointed that they were now smart enough to not listen to him. Humphrey strained his neck to get a look at the wolf carrying the front of the log, finding that he wasn't really someone that he knew. However, when he looked back behind him he saw none other than Mooch with the log thrown up over one of his broad shoulders. The two locked eyes for a moment, Mooch with an apologetic look that he had to break away. Once contact was lost Humphrey relaxed, letting his body rock with the log.

"So Humphrey, looks like this is gonna be the last time we talk," Humphrey said sadly.

Salt, Amina, and Mooch were hit hard by this.

"Ya Humphrey, it would appear so," Humphrey answered.

"But hey, at least the last few days of your life have been memorable," Humphrey comforted.

"Yes they were... the best days of my life."

Humphrey closed his eyes, his memories flooding over him, playing back a great movie inside his head.

He found himself again meeting Kate after the failure on her first hunt and breaking up the fight that had occurred. He was again at the Moonlight Howl, listening as Kate was trying so hard to defend her date, that brawny faker Barth. The memory made him smile, thinking back at all of the things she said, the dart hitting her in the ass, and how he had nearly released all over himself when she came on to him like that.(haha) He remembered the first meeting with Marcel and Paddy, the way they always hounded him about Kate. He remembered the accidental dance they shared trying to stow away in the back of that camper truck and how their noses had touched the morning after Kate nearly fell off of that cliff into a raging flash flood. He remembered flying down the mountain on the log sled as they fled away from the angry bears; but the thing that he remembered most was that night on the Canadian Express, the howl they had shared together. It was the happiest moment of his life, the two of them singing their songs together, the notes blending together in perfect harmony.

Humphrey found himself smiling as the good memory played in his mind, tears of joy slowly soaking into the fur on his cheeks.

His smile faded and the joyous tears flowing down his face became that of sorrow as he remembered the night of the stampede- the hit that Kate suffered, the horrible display that followed, the burial, and not too vaguely did he remember everything that had happened after. He could feel his anger still, feel it swirling around in his head. He still felt the guilt and the shame impressing upon him, this sinking him into a deep depression as he was carried along, soft sobs now escaping him. It was extremely difficult for Mooch, having to see his friend like this; but after what Salty had told him he was sure that this would be what was best for Humphrey now. Death would be a mercy for him. At the very least Humphrey wouldn't have to suffer anymore.

By this time the carrying party had made it back to the feeding grounds, a group of angry wolves growling at Humphrey from a distance. The carriers hefted him down a path over to a flat rock that sat almost directly beneath the speech rock. Here they set him down on top of the flat rock and removed the branch from between his legs. Humphrey ran his eyes out to his left and then to his right, seeing an armada of angry wolves sitting on either side of him a particular couple of wolves that were sitting a short distance away, grieving over the body of Zach made his blood boil. The white female felt his gaze upon her and turned to him with the deepest hatred burning in her bloodshot eyes.

"You! You BASTARD!" she yelled, sprinting toward him.

A group of wolves stepped into her way, but she blew past them and landed a brutal hit to the side of Humphrey's head. Three wolves intervened and she was dragged forcefully away from him, the female fighting against them as she was being forced back.

"You fucking son of a bitch!" she snarled as she was dragged away, "You're nothing but a heartless monster!"

Humphrey was in no mood for this and he immediately shot back an angry growl.

"I'm a heartless monster?" he yelled in rebuff, "What about my parents huh? You call me a monster after what you and your mate did to my mom and dad? It's because of you they're dead you fucking worthless bitch!"

The tan male standing by Zach's body lifted his had and made an advance, but was stopped before he could get very far.

You lying bastard!" he spat, fighting against his blockade, "You're so fucked in the head right now y..."

"You have the nerve to call me a liar Sam?" Humphrey screamed back at him, tears in his eyes, "saw you do it! I saw you tie them up and throw them over the falls! It was all you you fuck face!"

Sam fought against the wolves holding him back, snarling and growling as he tried to break through. Humphrey knew far too much, and if he continued to talk Sam and his mate could find themselves in deep trouble.

"'You were too young to know what you saw!' 'You took a traumatic event and turned it into something you could understand!' No! I know what I saw! I know EVERYTHING!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW THE H..."

"ENOUGH!"a deep and powerful voice boomed over the quarrel.

Sam and his mate Lundy stopped thrashing about and all eyes moved up to the top of the high rock overlooking the feeding grounds where Winston stood, the evening sun blocked out by his body,

Eve perched up on a rock a few feet below.

"Sam, Lundy, you two keep out of this," Winston demanded, turning out to the group below him with a morbid expression fixed upon his aged face.

Lundy had by now broken down into tears, burying her face into Sam's chest. Sam comforted her by rubbing the back of her neck with his paw, leaning his chin down on the top of her head.

Humphrey watched the pain he had caused the two and smiled secretly. He was glad to see them suffer . After all they deserved to suffer after what they did to him. He wished he could have done more to be completely honest; hurt them, rip them to shreds and let them bleed slowly, but that was just a dream now.

"Humphrey," Winston began, his voice pained.

Humphrey snapped out of his sick thoughts and turned up to the old alpha.

"While you were under sedation we discussed the proper course of action that should be taken in response to your crimes."

Humphrey laid on the rock, listening intently to what Winston was saying.

"If you would like I can list your charges off for you so you better understand our decision and have a fair chance of defending your case."

Humphrey simply nodded and Winston began.

"Humphrey, you are being charged with assault and battery, the use of terrorism against fellow pack mates, and premeditated homicide. (murder in the first degree) By law, if you are found guilty of any of these charges you will be sentenced to death. How do you plead to the charges listed?"

Humphrey smiled proudly.

"I will plead guilty to all accounts and given the chance I'd do each one again without hesitation."

This remark caused a ton of tension amongst the group, many of the wolves flexing their claws into the dirt in anger. Winston opened his mouth to speak, but Humphrey cut him off.

"Hold on there Winston, there's one last thing I'd like to say before you... you know."

Winston closed his mouth and sat, allowing Humphrey to speak since he figured that he was going to make his final wishes known. Winston was completely wrong.

Humphrey chuckled then turned to Sam and Lundy, a cruel smile forming upon his lips. He waited for their attention to be focused upon him and once he had it, took in a long breath.

"No Humphrey! Wait! Don't kill me! Please! I DON'T WANNA DIE! OH GOD I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

Sam and Lundy screamed with rage and began to charge Humphrey, ten wolves immediately jumping out to intercept them. They screamed in protest, fighting with all they had to get to Humphrey.

Humphrey laughed darkly, pleased that his false impersonation had worked so well.

"Do you know something?" Humphrey asked innocently, Sam and Lundy quieting down so they could hear, "I think that Zach's blood was just about the best damn thing I ever tasted."

Humphrey finished by licking at some of the blood that had dried around his muzzle.

Lundy completely lost it.

"GET OUT OF MY FUCKING WAY RIGHT NOW!" she screamed, the wolves now struggling to keep her under control.

Humphrey laughed hysterically at her, causing her to become even ore enraged.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!" she spat through the mass of bodies before her.

"LUNDY!" Winston yelled, but she had no intention on settling down.

She snarled and bit and clawed and kicked trying to break through. Something had to be done in order to calm her down.

"YOU BASTARD! YOU HAVE NO SOUL! DEATH IS TOO EASY FOR..."

She felt a quick pain on the back of her head, then fell into a deep blackness. Sam saw this done to his mate and became extremely pissed off.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS..." but he never got to finish, the same thing happening to him.

"Candu, Flint, you two get them out of here until we are done," Winston instructed.

Hutch and the brindle white Flint moved steadily over ti the two, each picking one up on their shoulders and carrying them back toward their den. Once they were gone Winston began to make his way slowly down off of his rock, the old alpha arriving at Humphrey's rock in a matter of a few seconds.

"Come to do the honors I see," Humphrey mocked, tilting back his head and exposing the soft flesh under his chin, "Alright, let's get this over with. I have a date to keep with Zach."

Winston choked back tears, approaching him slowly and dipping his head down toward Humphrey's throat.

"Wait wait wait," Humphrey said stalling.

Winston drew back his head. Looking down at Humphrey curiously. Humphrey sneezed then turned back to Winston.

"Sorry about that," Humphrey said sniffing, "now where were we?"

Winston couldn't help but chuckle a bit, but that brief happiness was quickly kicked out and he lowered his head down right next to Humphrey's ear.

"I'm so sorry," he sobbed.

"Ya, me too," Humphrey relied sincerely.

Humphrey closed his eyes, tilting his head back. He felt Winston's teeth fit around his throat, feeling a large amount of sharp pricks. He could then feel the pressure on his throat growing by the second.

"Wait don't!"

Humphrey heard someone scream and opened up his eyes, looking down an accidental lane formed by the wolves. And there he saw her, staring back at him with tears streaming down her unmistakeable face.

"KATE!" Humphrey screamed in disbelief, every wolf turning to where he was looking.

They saw nothing and turned back to Humphrey with a venomous glare. Humphrey had really sunk so low that he would use Kate as a means of escape? It made them sick. Winston raised his head in disbelief, following Humphrey's gaze, but also saw nothing.

Kate turned and ran hurriedly away, loud sobs escaping her muzzle.

"NO KATE, COME BACK!" Humphrey screamed, but she ignored him and kept running.

Humphrey made a move, but Winston pinned him before he could do anything. Acting fast, Humphrey kicked out, landing a good strike to the elderly alpha's abdomen. Winston was sent flying back a few feet, slamming his head against the side of the speech rock. His limp neck jerked with the blow and he hit the ground hard, twitching as his nerves slowly started to fail. The wolves were all in a state of shock, Lilly with tears streaming down her face. Once the initial shock had subsided, rage filled the wolves and they began to rush upon Humphrey in an instant, Eve dropping down from her perch and flying toward him.

AS fast as the wolves rushed him, Humphrey reacted with twice the speed. In a flash he had the vines around his paws severed cleanly and rolled to his feet. He wasted no time, jumping off of his rock and flying over the heads of the wave of wolves that approached. As soon as he landed he took off in a dead sprint. Adrenaline had by now kicked in and blocked out any pain that his broken leg was demonstrating, but the log was still proving difficult to run with. However, Humphrey's determination pushed him onward with the same speed as he could reach without anything on his leg to slow him down.

"KATE COME BACK!" Humphrey called desperately after her.

The wolves followed, Eve stopping and moving back over to mate's now lifeless body. There she stood for a moment, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. She lowered her head down to his , her tears staining the fur on his cheeks. Anger had now begun to flood into her mind and she drew her face away from his.

"Don't you worry about one thing honey. When I catch Humphrey I'm gonna skin him alive and use his pelt as a throw rug."

With that she turned and dashed away, the intent to kill welded into her mind.

* * *

><p>"Humphrey Get back here!" Humphrey heard Eve scream as he continued to run, his eyes fixed upon Kate.<p>

He ignored the angry calls, pushing himself faster and faster.

"Kate stop!" Humphrey yelled, but she continued to run.

She made a sharp left turn and accelerated faster away, Humphrey pulling the same maneuver, slipping only slightly.

"Humphrey! Give up! You can't get away!" the renegade continued to call to him.

Humphrey dug deep and picked up the pace a little, putting more distance between him and his pursuers, and less distance between him and his quarry. Kate made another sharp turn and sprinted off toward the east. Humphrey followed that turn in time to see her make another, this time in a northerly track.

The renegade of wolves pursuing Humphrey saw him make the first turn and followed, but were baffled when they made it. Humphrey seemed to have just disappeared into thin air.

"Scent him out," Eve ordered, "We can't afford to lose him."

The wolves all put their noses to the ground, ravenously seeking out Humphrey's scent. After a a minute or so, they found it and took off yet again.

* * *

><p>Kate exploded into a thick hedge grow, disappearing from sight instantaneously. Humphrey called out to her again and followed, getting slapped in the face every foot or so by the branches.<p>

* * *

><p>The hunt posse corrected their mistake and were now back on track, running at a faster pace to make up for lost time. They knew that Humphrey couldn't have gotten very far in that short amount of time they had wasted trying to pick up his trail again, but the longer they took to find him the easier it would be for him to find a place to hide.<p>

* * *

><p>The bushes Humphrey was running through seemed to stretch on forever, but he could finally see a light a few feet ahead that signaled that he was nearing the other side. He moved faster through the last few feet of the bushes, twisting and turning to avoid the stinging lash of the branches that whipped into his face.<p>

* * *

><p>Eve and the posse came around a bend and stopped, confusion dominant upon their faces. Humphrey's scent was strong here, but he was nowhere to be seen.<p>

"He's around here somewhere, "Eve informed venomously, "keep searching."

With that the wolves fanned out with their noses to the ground, following Humphrey's scent until it came to a set of shrubs. They looked it over and upon closer inspection they could see where the natural growth had been disturbed. They called fro Eve and she padded quickly over, taking a look at the bush.

"Got ya," Eve sneered with an evil smirk, ducking down and bellying her way in.

* * *

><p>Humphrey broke free of the shrubs and slid to a stop, seeing Kate dangerously close to the edge of a cliff. Twenty feet below said cliff, a rush of white rapids ran, large rocks scattered throughout like giant teeth ready to rip apart anything that dared come their way. Humphrey took a step forward and Kate took a step back.<p>

"No, you keep away from me!" she screamed.

Humphrey was hurt by this.

"Kate its me," Humphrey pleaded, "What's wrong with you?"

"I saw the trial! I know what you are!"

"No Kate, please," Humphrey begged, stepping forward.

"Stay back or I'll jump!" Kate screamed.

* * *

><p>Eve and her posse were finding it difficult to find their way through the shrubs, Humphrey's scent being distorted and scattered in every which way. Just when they were about ti turn around and call it quits for the day they heard Humphrey speaking from somewhere to their left.<p>

"Kate please, you have no idea how happy I am that you're alive," Humphrey reasoned.

Kate however, wouldn't buy it.

"How can I believe anything that you say? How do I know you won't kill me?"

"Kate, why on earth would I do that?" Humphrey asked shocked, "You're the love of my life, I couldn't stand the thought of losing you again."

Kate calmed slightly, her rigid form relaxing.

"Kate the day I thought you died was the day I lost my mind. I couldn't live without you."

Tears were now welling up inside of Humphrey's eyes. Kate could see his sincerity and finally complied, lowering her guard down completely. Humphrey heard some rustling in the bushes behind him and he whipped his head around, seeing the tops of them shaking around. Humphrey quickly turned back to Kate and ran up to her side.

"Kate, if they catch me they'll kill me," Humphrey pleaded urgently.

"HUMPHREY!" Eve yelled from the bush.

"No, if you stay here and defend your case..."

"Kate they won't listen to me anymore. We have to run."

"HUMPHREY!"

"Kate. We have to jump," Humphrey blurted, looking down at the rushing water beneath them.

"WHAT! ARE YOU CRAZY!" Kate screamed in protest.

"HUMPHREY!"

"Do you trust me Kate?" Humphrey nearly yelled so great was his terror.

Kate turned to the rushing water and stared at it for a while, then turned back to Humphrey with fear evident in her eyes.

"I hope you know what you're doing," she said nervously.

Eve and the others exploded out of the bush and began to charge them.

"So do I," Humphrey replied frightened.

"HUMPHREY!"

"Kate! Jump NOW!"

* * *

><p><strong>Wow that was definitely the longest chapter I've EVER written. 7,000 words is HUGE.<strong>

**Anyway, the twist has finally arrived. What do you guys think of it? Also, as for questions. I'm hoping that what I implied was recognized, but I'm not entirely sure if y'all were able to fully understand what was happening. Let me know what you thought went down in a review so I know whether or not I need to explain anything next chapter.**

**Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I figured I'd give you guys a good long chapter and a hanger to make up for the time it took me to update.**

**ANNOUNCEMENTS**

**I have joined forces with Samsonite. Wolfe, another fellow A&O author. We are co-writing a story titled Allied Front which is about Humphrey joining the Marine Corps. If y'all are interested swing on by and check it out.**

**I am deciding to have a soundtrack for this story. **

**I already have Poison by George Straight, Inside the Fire by Disturbed, My Own Hell by Five Finger Death Punch, Asylum by Disturbed, Suicide Is Painless(MASH THEME) and Renegade by Styx. If any of y'all have any suggestions as to any other songs that would fit this story don't be afraid to send them my way.**

**Asylum and Inside the Flames were recommended by () . Awesome name bud, but it's kinda hard to thank you if I don't know what to call ya. XD**


	8. Chapter 8

"HUMPHREY"

Kate we have to jump!" Humphrey blurted, looking down at the rushing water beneath them.

"WHAT! ARE YOU CRAZY!" Kate screamed in protest.

"HUMPHREY!"

"Do you trust me Kate," Humphrey nearly yelled so great was his terror.

"Kate turned down toward the raging water and started at it for a long moment, then turned back to Humphrey with fear evident in her amber eyes.

"I hope you know what you're doing," she said nervously.

Eve and the others exploded out of the bush and began to charge them.

"So do I," Humphrey replied frightened.

"Kate! Jump NOW!"

The two held each other's paws tightly then jumped.

Time seemed to slow down for a very brief moment as the two of them went over the edge of the cliff, their bodies becoming overwhelmed with a rush of adrenaline as they began to fall. Eve rushed forward and made a grab at Humphrey's tail, snagging her teeth onto some fur on the tip. Humphrey was stopped only for a brief second before is fur pulled free and he continued on his downward journey. Eve cursed and spat the tuft of fur from her mouth. She could do nothing now but watch as her mate's killer fell out of her reach, her frustration growing as she watched him fall.

The water rushed up to greet Humphrey and Kate, the impact and frigid temperatures immediately sucking the air from their lungs. The sudden shock caused Humphrey to take in a breath, sucking a mouthful of water into his lungs. He choked and coughed, fighting to turn himself upright and get to the surface, this task made difficult due to the swift current that fought to keep him under. He felt dizzy, but straight up above him he could see the surface churning and raging. He held on for as long as he could, his lungs screaming for oxygen as he scrambled for the surface.

His lungs simply couldn't take anymore strain.

With one final, desperate kick he breathed, to his great surprise and relief breathing in a great gulp of air. He had little time to enjoy this though as he sped toward a rock. Thinking quickly he surged himself to the right; but he wasn't quick enough and slammed his shoulder against the unforgiving boulder. He cried out in pain and bounced off, doing an uncontrolled spin as he continued to be carried down river.

"Humphrey!" Humphrey heard a desperate voice call over the roar of the river.

Humphrey turned to see Kate a few yards behind him in the same predicament as he was, the auburn wolf struggling to keep her head up above the water. Humphrey turned his body around and motored himself toward her, struggling against the current. After an immense amount of physical excursion the two met, only to separate again to avoid another boulder.

"Kate," Humphrey called, getting to her side, "Kate hold on to me."

Kate did as she was told, wrapping her arms around Humphrey's shoulder. Humphrey then maneuvered them around another rock, only to slam his body into one behind it. Humphrey yelped, but managed not to lose Kate. He was violently bashed into another rock, his head whipping around and slamming into it. He was very lucky that he wasn't knocked out cold, but he was still dazed beyond comprehension. There was a downward jerk in the current and Humphrey felt Kate tear away from his body.

"Humphrey!" Kate cried, bouncing off of a boulder with a yelp.

Humphrey shook himself back into his senses and whipped himself around, fighting in a desperate attempt at getting her back; but his body just couldn't take anymore strain. He was physically exhausted and was finding it harder and harder to keep his head above the raging water that splashed up into his face and clogged his ears. Seconds later, Kate disappeared from his view and Humphrey cried her name out one final time, thinking that this was going to be his and her final end. However, though he didn't know it, his luck was about to change.

One hundred yards further down came a large bend in the river and the raging white water became nothing more than a smooth strip of glass. The current was still strong here, but it was considerably calmer than where he had just been. Grateful for this gift, Humphrey relaxed his exhausted body, allowing himself to be carried along by the water, the current pushing him closer and closer to the U part of the bend.

Humphrey felt the sandy bottom of the river brush against his chest as he was lightly deposited onto the bank. He had never been more tired in his life and his mind had never felt so numb or so far away. His beaten and bruised muscles felt like jello and they throbbed with a dull pain as lactic acid began to build up on them in an effort to rebuild them after the damage that they had just suffered. He coughed out some water that he had sucked into his lungs, wincing as he felt the pain in his sides. All he thought about right now was just how exhausted he was and how lucky he was to be alive. He had no idea how he had managed to do it, but he was ALIVE. He and Kate were...

"KATE!" Humphrey suddenly screamed as it clicked into his head that she was still out there somewhere.

Humphrey groaned, frantically trying to scramble to his feet. The protest that his body gave was ignored as he got to his feet and turned to face the river. He scanned the water, desperately trying to spot her.

"Kate!" he called loudly.

There was no reply.

Humphrey was panicked, tears beginning to form in the rims of his eyes.

"KATE!" he screamed again, this call also without answer.

There was a small splashing sound from his left that caught his interests and he turned his head to inspect what had caused it. He squinted his eyes against the glare that danced upon the rippling water, searching for anything at all that would signify the presence of Kate. Out of the glare came a lump of auburn colored fur bobbing up and down in the water, more fur appearing and then disappearing after each rise and fall.

"Kate!"

Humphrey exploded out into the river, water splashing up into his face with each bound he took. Once the water was up almost over his back he pushed off of the river bottom one final time, thrusting himself out into the deep water. He padded as fast as he could, not taking his eyes off of Kate for even a second. Twenty yards later he arrived beside her, her body moving limply with each disturbance made in the water. He quickly rolled her over so she was face up and wrapped one of her forelegs around his neck, taking her scruff gently into his mouth. Once he was certain that she was secure, Humphrey began to swim back to shore, this task made difficult due to the extra weight that he carried.

Humphrey's paws finally made contact with the sandy bottom and he began to walk hastily out of the water, Kate's weight becoming heavier and heavier the lower the water level got. After what Humphrey considered to be the most physically challenging thing he had ever endured, he finally dragged Kate up onto shore, dragging her limp body a few feet away from the water and rolling her over onto her back.

"Kate," Humphrey stated, shaking her body desperately.

Kate didn't move.

Humphrey frantically placed his ear to her chest, holding his heaving breath so he could hear.

'_thud'_

He released his breath with relief.

She was alive, but she wouldn't be for very much longer if he didn't do something.

He knew what he had to do, but the thought of it made him blush. Humphrey turned Kate's head so her face was up and slowly opened up her mouth with his paws. He shifted nervously then started to slowly lower his mouth to hers, pressing their lips together a short moment later. Humphrey enjoyed the feeling of her soft lips on his, but he knew that right now was not the time for him to be thinking like that. There were more pressing matters at hand that had to be dealt with first. He closed off Kate's nostrils with the padding on one of his paws, closed his eyes, and then blew a heavy breath into her mouth, her cheeks puffing out as he did so. After his breath was expunged, he drew back and placed his paws on her chest just beneath her ribcage, then thrust is paws down and forward at the same time, repeating this process with three more in rapid succession. When she made no response Humphrey again pressed his lips to hers, giving her a quick exhale. Once he was out of breath Humphrey drew back his head again.

There was a cough from Kate and her body jerked as water spurted out of her mouth, streams of liquid running down her cheeks. Humphrey sighed with relief, wrapping his paws beneath Kate's upper back and neck, gently lifting her head up. Kate continued to cough for a few more seconds until all of the water was excreted from her lungs, then slowly opened her eyes, locking them with Humphrey's.

"Humphrey?" she asked weakly.

"The one and only," Humphrey replied with a giant grin.

Kate smiled faintly and offered a chuckle. Humphrey laughed as well and helped Kate to her unsteady feet, standing with his shoulder beneath hers so he could support her in case she began to fall. Kate's legs were weak, the four of them shaking with the weight of her exhausted body. Kate took a step forward, but that leg buckled as soon as her weight was applied. Humphrey acted fast and jumped in front of her, chest with his paws before she fell.

"Are you alright Kate?"Humphrey asked concerned.

Kate gave a nod and began to lower herself to the ground, Humphrey helping to support her as she did so.

"I'm exhausted," she replied tiredly, resting her head upon her paws.

Humphrey nodded his agreement, his own weakness beginning to flood into him. With a groan, he laid down a few feet to Kate's side. He closed his eyes, but opened them again when he heard whimpering from Kate. He turned to his auburn companion, seeing her body trembling violently. He hated to see her so miserable. He blushed madly, then mustered up his strength and moved over to her, laying down beside her and wrapping his body around hers. Kate felt him wrap around her and shifted, turning to him.

"What are you doing?" she asked tiredly, but with no intention of protest.

Humphrey shifted, blushing intensely.

"Well... yo- you were cold, so I thought..."

He was interrupted by a pleased moan from Kate, a smile appearing upon her face as she felt the heat from Humphrey's body beginning to diffuse into hers, causing her shivering to cease.

"Thank you," Kate purred, giving Humphrey a quick lick of gratitude before turning back and laying her head back onto her paws.

Humphrey's face became a cherry red beneath his fur.

"N-no problem Kate," he replied nervously.

But she didn't hear him. Her body had relaxed itself and she drifted away into the abyss of her dreams. Humphrey smiled and shook his head, laying his neck down on her back and closing his tired eyes.

* * *

><p>Back in Jasper a light gray, almost white wolf was fuming. His tears had ceased to fall a few moments ago, but they were replaced by something else, something far more sinister. He had never felt such a deep hatred for anybody in his entire life as he and some others sat at a respectable distance away from their fallen leader's final resting place. He had put up with Humphrey for far too long. He had been insulted, bullied, beaten, terrorized, and he was sick of it. Winston's death was the absolute LAST straw. One way or another Humphrey would pay dearly for what he had done to him and his uncle. Oh how he would pay.<p>

There was a howl and they all turned their attention t the far end of the feeding grounds, seeing Eve and her hunters returning empty handed. They all looked disappointed, excluding Eve who was clicking her teeth together in aggravation and muttering foul words under her breath. If the other could make out what she was saying, they would've heard something along the lines of this.

"I can't fucking believe I was actually fool enough to believe that little bastard. How could I have been so stupid?"

The wolves all walked over to the approaching group, a false hope in a few.

"Did you get him?" Salty asked flatly, this question not really drawing a lot of surprise from the group. After all, they had expected him to be pissed.

Eve simply growled, knowing that if she did speak she would unload all of her anger on someone that didn't deserve it.

"He jumped into the rapids off of Raven Point," a white female replied, her voice bitter.

"Then we need to go and look for a body," another wolf suggested confidently.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Amina chimed, the wolves all turning to her for an explanation, "There is a very real possibility that he could have survived. Eve knows this as much as I do, due to her history in medicine and anatomy."

The wolves turned to Eve for her two cents on the subject.

"Yes it is possible," Eve added between tightly gritted teeth.

The wolf growled and muttered a curse under his breath.

"To tell you the truth, I'm almost positive that he DID survive," Amina explained further, "You know as well as I do that Humphrey has always had a certain unnatural luck when it comes to situations like this.

The wolves all hung their heads in defeat. Amina had a point. They could recall countless occasions where Humphrey had gotten himself hurt to the point that he should have died, but managed to come away with just a laugh and some scars. That crazy bastard had the luck of the devil on his side, that much was certain.

"But what are we gonna do?" another wolf questioned, "Tooth River runs right through the Eastern Territory and-"

Eve ha by now cooled off enough to speak effectively.

"I will take a few alphas over and arrange a meeting with Tony," she explained, "Maybe we can get him to help us."

The wolves liked the idea, those who were old enough to remember the friendship that Winston and Tony once shared before the feud began, anyway. The others were unsure. They knew only of the hatred that the two packs shared for each other and the violence that occurred as a result. They would, however, find out soon enough.

"Flint, Candu, Cher, you three will be coming with me," Eve informed, the three of them moving to her side.

"I'm coming too," Salty demanded, stepping forward.

"Salty, you need to stay" Eve replied, "Your feelings for your uncle were strong and you have every right to demand blood for his death, but you are too good a wolf to lower yourself to Humphrey's level by killing in cold blood."

Salty was shaking, many thoughts and feelings swirling around in his head. He had to go! He had to avenge his uncle!

"But I..."

"Don't," Eve cut in, "You are not going to be involved."

"But..."

"That is my final word," Eve said calmly, turning and walking away.

Salty turned around angrily and stalked off in the other direction.

"Salty," Amina tried to call him back, but he ignored her.

"Salty wait," she called again, taking a step toward him, but Flint stepped in her way.

"Let him go," he stated wisely.

Amina watched go Salty for a while then conceded, turning and following Flint back toward the group. They saw that Eve and the other two alphas were getting ready to depart, so Flint picked up his pace. Eve waited until he got to them then turned and began making her way east, Candu Cher, and Flint following close behind.

* * *

><p><strong>Lots of new info in this chapter eh? More to come soon.<strong>

**I've also been reading a very good story lately. You guys should check it out. Just in case you're interested the title is Alpha And Omega: After Realization by Emperor Sushi. The plot and writing is excellent and I think that you will be quite glad that you read it.**

**Well that's it. Until next time.**


	9. Chapter 9

Border Creek wasn't but a hundred yards away.

Eve slowed her pace to a trot, Candu, Cher, and Flint following suit, their V pattern leveling out into a straight line, shoulder to shoulder, with three feet between each. With their decrease in speed came an increase in awareness and caution. Eve's ears shot straight up, the both of them sweeping the entire area like tiny radar dishes. Her eyes became godlike, all seeing and so keen that not even the slightest rustle of grass in the breeze went undetected. Her movements were slow and deliberate, her paws barely making a sound in the autumn leaves beneath her paws. Candu, Cher, and Flint were almost identical to Eve, the only sounds being that of their breaths and the slightest of crunching of natural matter beneath their paws. As they moved then would be like elephants trumping through the forest in comparison to how they moved now, Border Creek only but a few yards away. Every second of their alpha training spilled into their movements, ensuring that not even the wind whispered of their presence.

They had every reason to be cautious.

As far as they were all concerned the East was still their enemy. Though the East had been a quiet foe lately it did not mean that they wouldn't attack her and her team on sight. After all, the two packs had already met on the battlefield once before, blood had been spilled, and bodies had fallen never to rise to this world again. Simply marching up to the creek without a care could spell an ambush from the East, and possible injury or death to one, or many, of her teammates. Airing on the side of caution was the only way to limit the risk factors in this already hazardous mission. The team stopped with but a few feet between them and the creek, the four of them standing rigid and ready to fight to the death if necessary. Eve scanned the area beyond the creek for possible danger, her fiery golden eyes cutting through every shrub and every shadow, boring into every nook and cranny that could possibly conceal enemy forces. Finding no threat, Eve lifted her head and howled a long howl, followed by four barks in rapid succession to alert the Eastern leader of their numbers. Her barks echoed off of the landscape and slowly faded away into the background, her voice now lost forever to the Canadian Rockies. The group stood firmly and waited for a reply, hearing the return howl and the number affirmation a few seconds later. There was nothing for the Western group to do now except wait and pray that this meeting with the East should go well.

* * *

><p>Humphrey slowly peeled his eyelids open, raising his head with a yawn. He groaned when he lifted his head, rubbing a paw along the back of his stiff neck in an attempt to sooth it. Once he got the kink worked out of his neck he turned his eyes down to the little auburn colored ball of fur that lay cuddled up into his body. He blushed madly at the thought of the girl he so desperately wished to be courted with sleeping with him and shifted his sore body nervously, this action gently stirring Kate. Kate moaned and opened up her eyes, lifting her head slowly from her paws. She felt the warm embrace in which she was held and the events of earlier washed into her mind. She didn't know what to feel, nor did she know what to do. Should she go back to Jasper and beg that Humphrey be spared?, or should she just run away with him and try to forget about her home? This decision would prove to be one of the toughest she would ever have to make. She knew that both choices would have a significant amount of pros and cons mixed inside of them and that if she chose wrong it could spell death for Humphrey, herself, or the both of them.<p>

On one paw, if she chose option A, than she would more than likely be forced into courting with some brawny Eastern mutt that she didn't even like, not to mention the fact that there was a highly great chance that they would simply kill Humphrey on sight for the murder of Zach. On the other paw, in option A there was also the likelihood that Humphrey WOULD be allowed back into the pack and that she could convince Tony to simply annex the packs, thus ending the four year feud between the packs, and ensuring hers and Humphrey's happiness. But the problem with that was that Tony was very true to the old ways, and was not exactly subject to change. Convincing him to abandon the Sacred Law would be like convincing a bird that it couldn't fly. Plus, she wasn't entirely sure that her own pack would even allow the pairing of an alpha and an omega.

And then there was option B.

Kate could just say to hell with the pack and run away with the wolf of her dreams, leave her troubles and the impending war behind and live her own life, not one that someone had already picked out for her before she was even old enough to understand the world around her. She and Humphrey could escape the territories and settle down in an old den dug out by Humphrey's and her own paws, raise a little family, and have a little territory all of their own. They would be happy there, living for themselves and for their pups. They would hunt the caribou and deer that roamed the wilderness, taking only what they would need to live fat and happy without having to scrap with other wolves over their kill. That life sounded extremely tempting to her at the moment, but then there were the downsides of this decision. If she decided to run away with Humphrey she would be leaving her family and all of her friends. Not to mention that they would be running for a VERY long time, having to cross the entire Eastern Territory and then having to brave the barren, unforgiving climate of the White Pass Clan on the other side of that. Of course there was always the train, but that was all the way on the other side of the West, and she was certain that every available wolf would have their eyes out for Humphrey. Her main concern, however, was what would happen should Humphrey be caught, and-

"Kate?" Humphrey suddenly asked, waving his paw in front of her eyes.

Kate snapped out of her thoughts, turning to find Humphrey standing at her side with a goofy smile.

"You alright there Kate?" Humphrey asked, furrowing his brows.

Kate smiled and uncurled her body, stretching in an attempt to loosen her stiff joints and sooth her sore muscles. She finished her stretch and sat up on her haunches, turning to her side. Humphrey sat awkwardly beside her, failing to lift his head fully to hers and make eye contact. Neither one of them knew what to do, knew what to think, knew what to feel, and maybe most importantly, they had no idea what the nigh future would hold. Humphrey was extremely nervous at the present moment. He knew that he was skating on very thin ice, and that one false move could spell an immediate disaster. One little slip and he could be killed, but more important to him at the present time was his relationship with Kate. It had nearly killed him to know that she was gone, and now that he knew she was alive he was not about to lose her, not again. He glanced over to his friend with a small smile.

Or were they more than that now?

That night on the Canadian Express kept playing over and over in his head, excluding the ultimate end, of course. Was what she had said really true?, or was it just something that, in the heat of the moment, was done as an act of desperation? He knew that there was something eating away at her since the day they arrived in Idaho, but at the time had no solid idea on what that may be. Along the way he had made the connection as to why Kate was going to the Moonlight Howl with the Eastern dog and he knew that his already slim chances had become nothing more than a kid's fairytale. He decided to be forward, but there was still a whole mess of indecision whirling around in his mind. There was only one person that he could seek council from at the moment.

"What do you think Humphrey?" he asked ion his mind.

"_I can't tell ya that one bud. The decision is entirely up to you."_

Humphrey rolled his eyes, dissatisfied with the answer he received.

"Thanks for the help," Humphrey said sarcastically.

"_Anytime."_

Humphrey growled under his breath at the comment, this action drawing Kate's attention. Kate turned to face Humphrey, a hint of worry in her gaze.

"You okay?" she asked, cocking her head sideways.

Humphrey snapped from his anger and turned to Kate.

"Hmm?" he asked, shaking his head slowly as he moved back into the real world.

Kate rolled her eyes playfully.

"Are you okay?" she repeated.

Humphrey furrowed his brows in confusion.

"I'm fine, why?"

This time it was Kate's turn to furrow her brows.

"You were growling," she informed, "Is there something wrong?"

Humphrey did a mental face palm and smiled.

"Oh that?" he began happily with a chuckle, "It's nothing, I just had a flea bite me on the ass," he lied reaching a paw back and rubbing his backside for added measure.

This drew a laugh from Kate and Humphrey joined her, the two continuing this for a few seconds. The lightened mood quickly died with the laughter, the dread settling over the two once again. Humphrey sat in front of Kate, the two of them looking away from each other at something of imaginary interest on the ground by their paws. Humphrey sighed and closed his eyes, lowering his head slightly.

"_Come on Humphrey, you love this girl don't you?" _the voice asked.

Humphrey cocked his head up slightly, perking his ears.

"So you finally decided to help," Humphrey mused.

There was a chuckle from the voice.

"_Of course," _it replied smugly, "_If I let YOU handle it, you'll blow it like you did-" _

"Shut up," Humphrey interrupted, "I was young back then."

"_Yes you were, but damn it was funny!" _

There was a hysterical outburst and Humphrey rolled his eyes, remembering the first time he had ever gotten an 'up.'

* * *

><p>He was just a pup at the time, just getting to the age where he began to notice certain things on his body and on the bodies of the females; but he had yet to experience what he did the time he and Kate were playing together in the river. They were splashing about, tackling each other and forcing the other's head under water. On one occasion Humphrey tackled Kate near the bank, the two rolling in a flurry of water and finding Humphrey laying on his back, Kate laying on top of his chest, their noses only millimeters away. Humphrey's face turned so red that it showed through his fur, Kate exactly the same way. Humphrey didn't know what to do. Here he was, the most beautiful wolf he had ever seen laying on top of him, their noses nearly touching. Little did he know that Kate had locked up as well, her gaze lost in his deep aquatic eyes. They were still for a moment, each one blushing madly when Humphrey felt a strange sensation in his lower region. He had no idea what it was, but whatever it was, it was drawing Kate's attention. She felt something poking her stomach and her blush disappeared, her face becoming hot from something other than flirtatious behaviors.<p>

"Humphrey you did not!" she screamed, jumping off of him like he was something contagious.

Humphrey was even more confused now, and looked down to see something poking out from his sheath. He was terrified.

"KATE WHAT IS THAT!" he screamed, completely horrified.

Kate looked at him with a snide look on her face.

"Don't pretend that you don't know what that is," she replied angrily, "What do you think I am?"

Humphrey's horrified expression didn't change at all, his breath rate spiking. Kate saw this and shook her head slowly.

"You really don't know do you?"

Humphrey didn't reply, he just kept turning his petrified gaze from his newly discovered 'wolf' to Kate, and then back again.

Kate couldn't take this. She spat through her lips and then fell to the ground laughing, rolling over onto her back and holding her stomach in her forelegs.

"OH MY GOD!" Kate screamed between fits of hysteria.

Humphrey, on the other hand, was not amused. He still didn't know what was happening to him and now whatever it was was making Kate cry with laughter. He didn't know what to do, everything happening around him stressing him out and making him start to cry.

Kate heard the sobs coming from her friend and immediately stopped laughing, quickly rolling to her feet and moving over to Humphrey. Humphrey felt something touch his neck and sniffled, opening his eyes to see Kate comforting him with her muzzle. She pulled back and looked him in the eyes.

"I'm sorry Humphrey," she apologized, "I shouldn't have laughed at you like that."

Humphrey sniffled again and let out a breath.

"It's… alright K-Kate," he replied giving off a weak smile, "but could you please just tell me what is going on?"

Kate smiled back and helped Humphrey into a sitting position then sat down a few feet in front of him. She seemed nervous about something, her eyes always averting Humphreys. Humphrey picked up on this and asked

"Are you alright?"

Kate smiled sheepishly, her face blushing a cherry red once again.

"Kate?"

"I'm okay," she began, her eyes still refusing to make contact with his. She took a deep breath then continued. "It's just that this is a very awkward thing to talk about."

Humphrey suddenly began to feel embarrassed.

"Why?" Humphrey asked.

Kate giggled and turned to him, her cheeks completely flushed.

"Honestly Humphrey, this is really something that you need to talk to your dad about," Kate mused, giving him an awkward smile.

Humphrey looked slightly disappointed, but Kate was his best friend and he didn't want to make her even more uncomfortable than she already was, so he simply smiled and nodded, rising to his feet.

* * *

><p>"Hey, earth to Humphrey, Humphrey!"<p>

Humphrey saw a blurry flash of auburn shooting up and down in front of his eyes, this bringing him back to reality. Humphrey shook his head and turned to Kate.

"Sorry Kate… again." He replied sheepishly.

"You're not acting like yourself," Kate pointed out, "Are you sure that you're okay?"

Humphrey smiled.

"Should I be?"

Kate took a step back, turning and looking for an escape.

"Kate, I was kidding," Humphrey said with a laugh.

Kate looked at him slyly then walked over and shoved him playfully. Humphrey laughed and steadied himself.

"Just quit zoning out on me like that," Kate demanded, a small chuckle escaping her.

"Sorry," Humphrey replied playfully.

They once again returned to the way they were before, staring awkwardly at each other, not knowing what to do.

"Sooooo…" Humphrey began slowly.

Kate turned to him.

"Yes?"

Humphrey took in a breath and turned to her.

"What now?"

Kate was confused.

"Come again?" she asked, furrowing her brows.

Humphrey looked down, and his words confirmed it.

"I don't know what to do Kate. I can't possibly hope to escape, not with the entire pack looking for me. Hell I can't even hunt for myself. If the pack didn't find me first I'd die of starvation and-"

Kate cut him off by placing her paw on his lips.

"Who says you're going on alone?"

* * *

><p>There was a snap of a twig and the four turned to look across the creek, seeing four other sets of eyes moving through the shadows of the trees. Eve, Candu, Flint, and Cher stared back at them prepared for anything, but when the Eastern wolves' faces hit the light they were not hostile; no, they seemed almost… inviting? friendly? sympathetic? This fact encouraged a stand down from Eve and her group, but they fought the urge just in case this was all an act to get their guard down. Tony looked at the four rather meek looking wolves on his right and left flanks then stepped forward, leaping across the river and landing heavily, his shoulders hunched forward and his back arched skyward. As soon as Tony's paws touched the ground, there was a horrible cascade of cracks, drawing a pained, "oh!" from him. He lifted his head and twisted his neck to the right, causing more cracks to sound, then shook his head. His pained expression faded and was replaced with one of discomfort. He raised his eyes to Eve and the two stood staring at each other, neither one entirely sure where to begin. They continued to stare, but refused to make eye contact and the each of their parties stood idly behind, completely still except for wandering eyes. It was funny to the West to say the truth, why Tony would choose to bring those three with him. They looked as though they were nothing more than omegas.<p>

And then it struck the West. Bringing along omegas instead of alphas was a classic means to show no desire to fight, but was instead an intention to offer peace. Tony saw their faces soften slightly and began to feel a bit more comfortable with his decision. Perhaps this could work after all. He made eye contact with Eve for the first time and bowed his head to the side in respect. Eve returned the gesture and ordered her wolves to stand down. They obliged and lowered their defenses, sitting down in a line behind their leader. Eve then turned back to Tony.

"Good evening Tony," she greeted.

Tony acknowledged that statement with a nod then sat, Eve copying him. For a moment they sat in silence, each one trying to read the other but with little to no prevail.

Tony was the first one to speak.

"I'd like to start by apologizing for my irrational behavior," he began, his sincerity bleeding out through his eyes, "I realize now that the bloodshed completely unnecessary and I give you my absolute deepest condolences for you loss."

Eve nodded slowly.

"Yes, we should have been able to find a better alternative instead of resorting to violence," she agreed.

"This is all my fault," Tony mused, "because of my arrogance we had to bury seven of the finest damn wolves I'd ever seen." He hung his head low in shame.

"May Jenimar keep them in His good light, forever and ever," Eve preached, dropping her head as well.

There was a moment spent in silence as they remembered the wolves that had died so needlessly in battle, the wolves all bowing their heads in respect and prayer. After about three minutes they raised their heads again and stared silently at each other, each of the two leaders waiting for the other to make a move. Eve was the first to make that move, rising slowly from her haunches and began slowly moving over to Tony. Tony saw her rise and did so as well, moving toward her as well. The two met each other in the middle of their trek and stopped with about a foot between them. Both of their parties leaned forward in anticipation, watching the two leaders intently.

Eve reached out her paw and Tony did the same, the latter placing his paw gently atop the former's. This accomplished he two replaced their paws and gave each other a nod. The two threw back their heads and howled the song of peace, their voices rolling from their muzzles and rising to the heavens above. Once the howl was finished the two dropped their heads and placed their muzzles on the other's shoulder. As soon as their muzzles were laid down upon the other, howls of joy erupted from both of the parties, their happy voices blending together with such a great power that it brought tears to the eyes of their owners. Finally, after four long years, the feud was over.

* * *

><p><strong>I think that was the first time that I have EVER attempted to put humor into one of my stories, and though that all may have seemed unimportant, it was put in there as a temporary break from the seriousness of the plot.<strong>

**Don't worry about where I decided to end this one, the rest of the confrontation between the East and West will be continued in the next update, along with more on the fugitive couple's plan of escape. Stick around.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A Friendly Note from the Author**

**I have to give my gratitude to Mike101 once again. The reason why will not be discussed here, but he knows what I'm talking about. If any of y'all wanna know why it is I'm thanking him PM me or something and I'll tell you, but I won't discuss that topic here.**

Humphrey was completely flushed with joy, but that was quickly replaced by dread as the cruel clap of reality hit him, making it feel as though someone had dropped a load of bricks onto his head.

"I can't let you come with me," he said sadly, hanging his head in dejection.

Kate's face contorted into sadness as well.

"W- What are you saying Humphrey?" she asked weakly.

Humphrey sighed and a single tear snaked through the fur on his cheeks.

"I won't take you away from your pack," Humphrey stated flatly, "There is absolutely nothing about me that is worth you throwing away your future."

Kate now had tears of her own starting to well up in the bottoms of her amber eyes.

"I have no future there," she retorted, "What do I have to go back to?"

"A family that loves you," Humphrey replied, "You are lucky. You still have someone who cares about you, unlike me."

Kate hung her head, and then suddenly became hysterical.

"My family doesn't give a fuck about me!" she screamed loudly, tears streaming down her cheeks and dripping to the ground beneath her.

Humphrey was surprised by this sudden outburst from Kate.

"Kate you know that's not true," he said comfortingly, gently laying a paw on her shoulder.

"Yes it is!" Kate screamed again, jerking her shoulder out from under Humphrey's paw, "They've done NOTHING but use me my entire life, and they're gonna do it again to unite our pack with the East! I'm nothing more to them than some god damn pawn!"

Kate fell into a heap and started to ball loudly, her sobs and wails reaching out to the world, falling upon the land and echoing off into the fading day. Humphrey was still in the throes of surprise, still trying to absorb everything that he had been told. Was it really true? Was that all she ever was to them? Just some sort of scapegoat? Kate started to beat the ground with her paws, her blows hitting with dull thuds and flurries of disturbed dirt.

"They don't care about me! They've NEVER cared about me! The only thing that they ever cared about is what I can do to help them weasel their way out of a tight situation!"

Humphrey lay down beside Kate and pulled her into a comforting hug, the auburn wolf burying her face into Humphrey's shoulder and sobbing deeply. Humphrey wrapped a paw around her head and gently caressed the back of her neck, slowly rubbing his paw from the base of her head to the tops of her shoulders.

"Shh Kate," Humphrey whispered softly into her ear, "It'll be alright. I'm here."

Kate sniffed and nuzzled her face further into Humphrey's shoulder.

"I'm just so sick of being taken advantage of," Kate sobbed miserably, "I just want to be free to make my own decisions in life, not have everybody telling me what to think and how to feel. Is that too much to ask?"

Humphrey wrapped both of his paws around Kate's shoulders and pulled her head in closer to him, hugging her tightly in a comforting embrace. Kate pulled her head out of Humphrey's shoulder and returned the hug, wrapping her muzzle around the back of his neck. She sniffed and wiped her eyes, then pulled herself away from Humphrey. Humphrey loosened his grip on her so she could move away and turned his gaze to her face. Kate met his gaze and she smiled weakly, showing that she would be okay. Humphrey smiled back at her, his offering comfort, and for a moment the two just stayed like this, Humphrey with his arms wrapped loosely about Kate's shoulders, the two of them staring intently at the other. Kate had to admit, something just felt… right when she was in Humphrey's grasp, like the two were always meant to be. If it truly was meant to be, then there was only one way to know for sure. With this thought in mind she blushed and did something that Humphrey truly did not expect.

Much like those few nights ago board the Canadian Express, Kate suddenly pressed her soft lips to his, and again Humphrey found himself taken completely off guard by this action. His first reaction was to lock up, every one of his muscles tensing to the point where all he could do was just sit there; but after a few seconds or so his initial surprise wore off and his body relaxed, doing exactly what his mind screamed at him to do. He wrapped his paws around the back of Kate's head and neck and returned the kiss, pressing his once limp lips firmly into hers. The two stayed this way for about two minutes before they had to separate for air. The two pulled apart and sat across from each other panting heavily, the both of them blushing madly. Humphrey raised his head to look at Kate and she did the same.

"Did that just happen?, Or did I drown?" he asked aloud, looking over and feeling around his body to make sure that he was really there.

Kate giggled and her face flushed into a deep red, her eyes failing to maintain contact with his.

"I- I think it just did," she replied shyly, looking own at her paws.

Humphrey shook his head and blinked his eyes, checking once more on whether or not this was actually happening; and after a while he was satisfied and looked off in an undisclosed location, giggling in nervous embarrassment. Kate did the same, making herself take interest in the leaves that scuttled slowly across the ground. A thick silence befell the two, encasing them completely in its absolution, making them feel as though they would drown in it. The two would shoot a nervous sidelong glance at each other and look quickly away when the other caught their eye, or they would lose themselves deep inside of their mixed up thoughts. This was all so new to them, and they were completely flushed with uncertainty. What were they supposed to do next?

The two said the other's name simultaneously, blending their names together to where it was one single word that sounded like some kind of life threatening illness or STD. (or something)

"Kumptrey," they said, raising their heads to look at each other, but when they realized that they had spoken at the same time they lowered their heads again in embarrassment.

"No please," Humphrey said in a low voice, giving Kate the right of way for speech.

Kate didn't exactly know where to start so she decided to wing it, listen to what her heart told her and just go with it and hope for the best.

"Humphrey," she said moving her eyes from side to side nervously, "I'm not entirely sure how to say this… so to hell with it, I'm just gonna tell it to you straight. I love you."

These words danced into Humphrey's ears and echoed around inside of his head, making his entire body seem to light up and a broad smile to stretch involuntarily across his lips.

"_Holy shit! She really does love me!" _his mind, his true mind, screamed.

"_No she doesn't," _the voice answered, _"she just knows that she's in too deep because she technically abided in your escape and wouldn't be allowed back anyway."_

"_Shut the hell up right now!" _Humphrey shot back, "_She loves me!"_

"_Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you." _the voice replied in a defeated tone.

Humphrey damned the voice silently then turned back to Kate, who sat in great suspense as she waited for his reply. She felt his gaze upon her and raised her eyes to meet his, and when contact was made Humphrey smiled broadly then walked over to Kate, who watched him curiously. Humphrey paused a brief distance in front of her and placed a paw atop of hers and slowly leaned his head in toward hers. Kate leaned her head in as well and the two of them wrapped their heads around the other's neck, closing their eyes contently. Kate breathed in Humphrey's musky scent and smiled warmly. Yes, this was exactly how it was meant to be. She was his and he was hers, and now there was not a thing that was going to tear that apart.

"I love you too Kate," Humphrey whispered softly into Kate's ear, his gentle breath tickling the furs inside of it and making it flap involuntarily.

The two pulled each other closer and tighter, then separated and looked each other dead in the eyes. Once again there was a long silence that befell them and their stare quickly became one that was laced in awkwardness. Eventually Humphrey cleared his throat, thus ending the silence and lifting the atmosphere once again.

"So… what now," he asked slowly, "what do we do?"

Kate turned to him and looked at him awkwardly.

"I guess we need to get going," she replied equally as slow.

"But where do we go?" Humphrey asked concerned.

Kate shrugged.

"I don't know," she replied nonchalantly, "but every journey has to begin somewhere, and always begins with just a single fall of a foot."

With that she raised her fore paw in the air and placed it down in front of the other, bringing a hind leg with it. She turned back to Humphrey and kept walking.

"Now, you coming?" she asked strongly.

Humphrey couldn't help but smile and took a step as well, then made his way quickly to Kate's side and the two walked side by side until they disappeared into the thick maze of trees.

* * *

><p>Eve and Tony pulled away from each other and smiled warmly across at each other. They were surrounded by howls, but in their little world that they shared there was nothing but silence. It felt so great for Eve, being able to look upon Tony without a deep feeling of enmity, but instead as a friend. Tony felt the same way when he looked at Eve. How he missed those days when she and Winston would meet him and his passed mate Jezebel here on the edge of their territories and B.S. about this that and the other, or share tips on the patterns of the caribou while their kids played together; though he somehow knew that would never happen again with the damages done by the war and the loss of his mate, but he wished more than anything that things could go back to the way it was before.<p>

"_But no point in dwelling on the past right? It is always better to look ahead into the future."_

He cleared his throat, thus ending the silence between them and bringing them back to the world of Jasper. He didn't know how to start a conversation that would be suitable for the situation, so he decided to ask the obvious question.

"Is Winston not feeling well?" he asked curiously, "Where is he?"

The wolves from the West heard the question and they all fell silent. The omegas from the East noticed this and became silent as well, wondering why it was that such a question would have such a heavy impact upon their new allies.

Eve's face fell into sadness, but that was quickly replaced with rage.

"Eve are you okay?" Tony asked concerned.

Eve growled and tried to control her anger.

"W- Winston is dead," Eve seethed between tightly clenched teeth.

This statement drew a huge onslaught of loud murmurings from the Eastern wolves, and that quickly built into an onslaught of incomprehensible questions.

"Alright, settle down now everybody, settle down," Tony demanded loudly, this getting his group to slowly begin to quiet themselves down.

Once everybody was silent he gave Eve a nod.

"Now, what happened?" he asked worriedly, his voice wrought with concern and condolence.

The question made Eve hang her head and growl again, a fire building up inside of her that was quickly turning into a raging inferno.

"_He was murdered," _she hissed through her teeth, each word spoken done so with the absolute deepest hatred.

This drew even more murmurings from the Eastern group, and even quicker this time did the voices get out of hand.

"Quiet down now," Tony demanded, but this time they were not going to listen until their questions were answered, "Quiet down."

The noncompliance from the East caused some of the alphas from the West to begin to try and settle things as well until there was just one loud voice pounding into the Head Alphas' ears.

Eve couldn't take this anymore, and she let her rage out in one long bellow.

"**EVERYBODY SHUT THE FUCK UP!" **she bellowed, her voice so loud that it could be heard echoing off of the landscape for miles around.

* * *

><p>"Sounds like Eve is pissed," Humphrey commented, looking to his right at Kate.<p>

"It would appear so," she agreed, looking away when she finished.

* * *

><p>There was immediate silence and they all turned to look astonishingly at Eve, Tony included. He had heard her yell before when she was angry, but this was COMPLETELY different. This here, this was FAR beyond the realms of being pissed off. What that was was pure, unabashed hatred. She had her head low and she was heaving heavy breaths in and out, her shoulders rising and falling noticeably with each heave. Tony was terrified, knowing some of Eve's reputation when she was mad, but he still knew that he needed to comfort her. He placed his paw on her shoulder and she raised her head to meet his soft gaze. There were unshed tears in her eyes, tears that she just couldn't find the strength to let loose, and she was trembling from the potency of the emotions she had flowing through her mind that she tried to hide. Tony knew that eventually she would choose one of those emotions and that it would fuel her next course of action and one thing was for sure, he didn't want to be in her grasp of she chose anger.<p>

Tony waited for her to come back in, and finally her body began to tremble less and less, and her tears began to dry up, replaced once again by flame.

"We practically raised him as our own son after he lost his parents, and this is how he thanks us!" Eve mused darkly, "by getting my daughter killed in the stampede and then killing my mate!"

Tony was shocked.

"Humphrey?" he asked astounded.

Eve winced evilly at the name, growling lightly.

"Yes, _Humphrey," _she seethed softly, her voice barely audible through her teeth.

"Surely you can't be talking about-"

"He's _exactly _the one I'm talking about," Eve interrupted, "That bastard went nuts!"

Tony hung his head sadly, and then raised it again to face Eve.

"D- did you guys catch him?" Tony asked, his own feelings for this situation being mixed.

He always did like Humphrey, but this was inexcusable.

Eve growled.

"No," she spat, "He managed to get into the rapids off of Raven Point."

"So that means that he should be somewhere in my lands?" Tony asked for affirmation.

Eve only nodded.

Tony threw back his head and howled this howl one that was rarely ever heard.

"What are you doing?" Eve asked suspiciously.

Tony finished his howl off with a single yap and turned his head down to Eve.

"Sealing off my boarders," Tony answered flatly, "I'm gonna make sure he doesn't make it out of here alive."

* * *

><p>The howl hit Humphrey's ears and they immediately perked up. He then turned to look at Kate, finding that she had heard it too; but she looked as though she were nervous.<p>

"Kate?" Humphrey asked, slightly scared.

"Humphrey we have to get out of here now," Kate pressed, picking up her pace.

Humphrey was confused.

"Kate wait," he demanded, stepping out in front of her.

Kate looked at him urgently.

"What's going on?" Humphrey asked worriedly.

"They're gonna seal off the boarders!" Kate said urgently, beginning to make a beeline toward the nearest exit.

Humphrey followed quickly behind her, scared to death of what would happen if they didn't make it across before it was too late.

* * *

><p>Everywhere back in the main grounds of the Eastern territory, wolves were mobilizing at their speech rock where Garth stood atop.<p>

"Alright, let's go! This is not a drill!" he instructed, demanding urgency from the wolves.

The wolves were all soon there and Garth began to go into the next part. He ran his eyes out over his gatherers and spoke

"We are to seal off the boarder people," he informed, "nobody comes in and nobody gets out, understood?"

The wolves all nodded.

"Alright, let's get on it! Find a gap and fill it!"

The wolves nodded and began to quickly disperse in every direction, headed for the boarder of the territory.

* * *

><p>Eve then turned to Tony.<p>

"I'm sure you know procedure quite clearly?" Eve asked him.

Tony only nodded, showing that he understood, and then said

"Alright, call them in."

Eve nodded and threw back her head, howling a long, low howl that lasted for about ten seconds before it began to build into a higher octave and ended at the zenith of her voice about thirty seconds later.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh how interesting this is getting. Who are they calling? Will Humphrey and Kate make it out before the boarder is completely sealed off? Stick around and I apologize for the lateness of this chapter. Just been kinda busy with stuff lately.<strong>

**Another list of songs: The Tragic Truth Five finger Death Punch (very much fitting for this story), Haunted, Criminal, and Torn all by Disturbed. Haunted, Criminal, and Torn recommended by DisturbedMetallicafan.**


	11. Chapter 11

Humphrey and Kate raced through the Eastern Territory, frantically scanning their surroundings for any wolves that would be in pursuit, while also keeping eyes out for a crossing into the next territory. So far, they knew, they had been lucky, their present location still unknown as of yet; but they knew that their strain of fortune was about to break. After all, it was past due given the circumstances as of yet. For starters, Humphrey escaped his execution without any real harm, then he was able to catch up to Kate before she made any rash decisions, he regained her trust, somehow managed to survive the rapids of Tooth River, and most of all the two were finally forward about their feelings for one another. These little facts known, it was definitely nigh on time for that strain to shatter.

Rustling sounded in the bushes somewhere nearby and they knew that their luck had just about run out, but Humphrey, being the clever omega that he was, devised a plan.

"Keep going," he instructed softly in Kate's ear, "I'll catch up in a minute."

Kate gave him a fearful look.

"Are you mad?" she exclaimed, only to be shushed by Humphrey.

"Trust me," he stated assuringly, giving her a quick peck on the lips and then slowed his pace down to a walk.

Kate slowed too, looking back at him; but Humphrey urged her on.

"Go, I'll meet you in the Dry Land," Humphrey said confidently.

Kate did as she was told and kept going, disappearing through a growth of hedges a short time later. Humphrey waited for a few moments then turned his body to the right, heading off toward the Western Territory in a relatively quick pace. He carried on for a short distance without any trouble, but after he had gotten maybe fifty yards there was the snap of a twig behind him followed by the harshly spoken command of "Stop!"

Humphrey did as he was told and stopped dead in his tracks, turning slowly toward the owner of the voice, finding a young looking alpha of black and blue, around his age, maybe slightly younger, standing in a battle stance and growling threateningly at him. Humphrey looked him over, looked at his posture and his poise. This wasn't exactly what he had had in mind, but this would work out quite well for him, for he already knew how he was going to us this young alpha to his advantage.

"State your business," the Eastern alpha demanded firmly.

"Just passing through," Humphrey replied coolly, "but the real question is what business you have in stopping _me_," he finished egotistically.

The young alpha growled.

"So it would appear that we have ourselves a wiseass," he mused agitatedly.

"Hey, you didn't want to put up with any shit you shouldn't have stopped me," Humphrey replied matter-of-factly, "I'm a very busy wolf and don't have a whole lot of time to deal with your malcontent.

The wolf growled louder, his temper flaring.

"Shut your mouth you son of a bitch, or I'll kill you on the spot for trespassing," he seethed, moving closer.

Humphrey growled as well, raising his hackles and holding his ground.

"You will watch your tone with the High command of the West fuckstick," Humphrey pressed angrily, puffing his chest out to make himself look proud and more authoritive.

From the jump Humphrey had suspected that this young wolf was still but a trainee in Alpha school, and therefore arrogant enough to buy his lie, and apparently his suspicions were correct for, like flipping an imaginary switch, the young alpha immediately dropped his head and tail to show submission and respect.

"I'm sorry sir," he apologized failing to make eye contact, "please forgive me."

Humphrey grinned smugly for a brief second then let his poker face reclaim his features.

"Hey don't worry about it," Humphrey replied, his hostile attitude subsiding with the young alpha's, "you were only doing your job in ensuring the safety of your pack."

The alpha still didn't raise his head out of respect, but nodded. Oh man as one can assume Humphrey was crying inside form mental laughter, still finding it hard to believe that this young alpha thought that he was Candu. He was actually finding it hard to suppress his laughter, having to bite down hard on his tongue to hold it in.

_"Calm down now," _the voice reminded him, "_don't wanna blow cover."_

Humphrey settled himself down then returned his attention to the young alpha. He knew that his time was steadily ticking away. He needed to get out before more alphas arrived.

"The submission is not necessary, young alpha," Humphrey informed kindly, "I am in your territory after all."

The young alpha raised his head to Humphrey.

"Thank you sir," he thanked humbly.

Humphrey only smiled.

"It's fine, but I must be going. There is a matter in White Pass that I have been sent to attend to."

The young alpha knew better than to ask for it was not within his right to question a pack's High Command on the affairs of his pack, so he only nodded.

"You need an escort out?" the young alpha offered generously.

Humphrey did a mental fist pump and nodded curtly.

"Alright follow me," the young wolf said excitedly and turned south east, headed directly for their border that lay on the Dry Land, the stretch of unclaimed territory between the East and White Pass, named for its barren plains.

Humphrey followed, running abreast of the young wolf as they began to make their way south east for the border. As they ran Humphrey could only hope that Kate had made it across alright.

* * *

><p>Lying low in the Dry Lands, Kate waited anxiously for Humphrey, hoping that whatever it was that he was doing would be enough to get him past the guards that now lined the border. She had managed to get across into the Dry Lands just moments before the guards arrived, but Humphrey was still inside of the East somewhere, and she knew that the longer he spent inside of the now sealed border the smaller and smaller his chances of escape became.<p>

* * *

><p>Humphrey and the young alpha began to slow their pace as they neared the border to the Dry Land, and Humphrey scanned his surroundings, carefully eyeing the guards that stood watch where he wished to cross. They were battle hardened alphas, middle aged and built for war, a bit more of a challenge to get by than the young and arrogant alpha. When the alphas standing guard spotted Humphrey and the young alpha they tensed, positioning their bodies for a potential attack. Humphrey mentally breathed in a deep and collected himself. He'd need everything he had to get past these guys.<p>

"Who is this Western mutt that you bring us Gary?" they demanded firmly.

Humphrey mentally sniggered at the name, but quickly tensed and positioned himself proudly yet again.

"Western mutt?" he demanded angrily, growling lightly.

"Watch your tone with us coyote," the alpha standing to Humphrey's left spat, raising his hackles.

Gary looked at his packmates with an urgent concern, knowing that they had no idea who it was that they were talking to.

Humphrey growled and stepped forward into the name-caller's face.

"You will watch your tone with the Western Command _dog,_" he growled, boring an iron gaze into the alpha.

The alpha was unfazed, almost skeptical in truth.

"State your name," he demanded with a raised brow.

"Candu," Humphrey replied firmly, locking his jaw.

The accuser's jaw locked as well.

"The Western Command is named Hutch you imposter!" he growled, tensing to attack.

Humphrey met the alpha's pose with firm steadiness

"Hutch is dead," Humphrey replied flatly, "he died in battle against _your _pack, so as High Beta I was promoted to his position."

Both of the guards eyes Humphrey skeptically.

"What business do you have beyond our border?" the wolf standing to Humphrey's right demanded firmly.

Humphrey was becoming impatient with these two.

"I have matters to see to in White Pass," he answered, his tone taking on a mixture of anger and annoyance.

"What "matters" do you speak of?" the wolf standing left asked with his brow raised in suspicion.

Humphrey growled loudly.

"You forget your place?" he demanded harshly, his voice taking to anger quite well, "it is not _your _right to question _me _about the affairs of _my _pack!" Humphrey reminded, almost yelling now.

The wolves remained firm, but nodded and stepped aside in defeat and let Humphrey pass. Humphrey turned back, thanked Gary for the escort, and then began to walk forward, snarling at the two wolves as he walked between them. He continued to walk without looking back, covering the five foot distance to the line of trees that was the official border to the Dry Land a short moment later, and disappeared through the trees.

"So did you actually believe that guy?" the wolf standing right asked the other two once Humphrey was out of earshot.

The wolf standing left scoffed loudly.

"Please, that scrawny omega?" he replied with a short laugh, "He did a good job with his little act, but did he _actually _expect us to believe that bullshit?"

The two experienced alphas began to laugh, but the young wolf gulped having been the only one that actually bought what that wolf was selling. Embarrassed by his own ignorance, he laughed as well to cover up his mistake.

After a few moments the young alpha broke from his laughter and asked, "So then why did you let him out?"

The other two ceased laughing as well and became professional once again.

"Hey, if that dumbass wants to go out into the Dry Land then let him," one of the two replied, "there's not a snowball's chance in hell that some weak little omega will be able to survive out there so he's as good as dead anyway."

* * *

><p>Out beyond the trees Humphrey saw nothing but a vast span of vacant land, one that had no geographical personality to it whatsoever, just knee high blades of amber grass that danced ominously in the gentle breeze. The sun seemed to beat straight down upon the earth here and there were no signs of game anywhere; not even birds flew in the sky overhead or fluttered down into or out of the grass. This place was in all senses dead, nothing but a desolate span of wasteland. But even in a place as unforgiving as this life stirred, laying low in the grass and watching Humphrey intently. Humphrey sat on his haunches and collected his thoughts for a moment, scratching his head gently with his hind paw as he pondered what he should do. He was sure that Kate was here somewhere, but the question was where. How exactly was he supposed to find her in a place such as this? Now it wouldn't be that hard for an alpha, but alas, he was merely an omega, meaning that he was no tracker. He didn't even know the first thing about finding anything other than a good time, or in more recent scenarios, trouble and unexplainable fortune. He supposed that he should try finding Kate's scent, but he knew nothing of using wind direction as an ally so when he put his nose to the air he found nothing but the dry air and grass.<p>

The life form watching Humphrey crept closer, making sure to keep low in the grass and move slowly so as to not disturb the delicate blades and give away its position. Closer and closer it snuck, ever lessening the distance in which it had yet to travel to get within striking range. Humphrey was still completely unaware of the threat that steadily crept up on him, completely oblivious to the fact that his life was in potential danger. He cocked his head to the side and stood up then took a few steps before he heard something behind him. Humphrey stopped and quickly turned to face the sound, running his eyes over the grass slowly, but after a few moments he just shrugged and began walking again, thinking that it was only his imagination. He ran his eyes out ahead of him as he moved onward, searching the grass for any sign of his friend.

"Kate!" he called out, his voice echoing across the plain.

He received no answer.

"Behind you," the voice warned flatly.

"Huh?" Humphrey asked stupidly as he turned behind him, just in time to see an auburn colored flash rocket from the grass about three feet behind him.

He had no time to react and only braced for impact, getting hit a mere second later and sent backward to the ground, landing heavily on his back. He was frightened so he refused to open his eyes as he was pinned to the ground by his shoulders.

"Looking for someone?" a familiar voice asked playfully.

Recognizing the voice Humphrey opened up his eyes.

"Jesus ate God Kate," Humphrey said relieved, looking up at his friend, "don't do that to me again, you almost made me have a heart attack.

Kate giggled at his remark and stepped off of his shoulders, allowing Humphrey to roll to his side and then to his feet. Once Humphrey was up on his feet Kate giggled again.

"But you gotta admit I got you good," she said playfully.

Humphrey chuckled and shook his head.

"Yes that you did Kate," he replied with a smile, "that you did."

Kate gave Humphrey a silly grin that made him laugh then began to walk.

"Well, I guess we should be moving," she informed, "They'll figure out that we're not there eventually and they'll come looking for us in full force."

Humphrey nodded in agreement and fell in at Kate's shoulder, the two walking close to each other, but still keeping a respectable distance. They took a few steps further then Humphrey slowly leaned his head in towards Kate's.

"I'll get you back for that just so you know," he whispered playfully into her ear.

Kate turned to him with a sly grin.

"You can always try Humphrey," she replied smugly, giving him a playful bump with her hips.

Humphrey shunted sideways with the bump and laughed as he retook his spot beside Kate, returning the favor. Kate also jerked sideways with the hit and came back to Humphrey's side, slapping him gently on the top of his head then took off running, fleeing through the tall grass for a short distance before stopping and turning to Humphrey. Humphrey smiled slyly at her.

"Oh now you're in for it," he teased with a laugh.

Kate heard this and turned around, fleeing away from Humphrey again. Humphrey smiled a toothy, evil grin and loaded his back legs before leaping forward and chasing after Kate as she bounded along through the tall amber grass.

* * *

><p><em>Everywhere throughout the Jasper Park Area wolves walked slowly about the grassy fields of their territories, roaming from body to mangled and unrecognizable body in search for the remains of their loved ones. There were loud and sorrowful wails coming from all parts of the territories from wolves that had found the horrific sight of their son, daughter, mother, father, or mate torn to bits and lying in a puddle of their own blood. Those who cried begged for the pack healers, pleaded with them to do something; but for all of those laying out in Jasper's fields it was too late. They were already gone. There was no question as to who did this, not a doubt in anybody's mind about the ones responsible for such a massacre. It was those bastards up in the north. They were ruthless, heartless bullies, and they terrorized other packs simply because they could. They were by far the largest and most powerful of all the packs, forty strong, and controlled by a leader as cruel and ambitious as the devil himself. He desired nothing more than power, and domination of the entire Jasper Area was his top priority. He stopped at nothing to get what he wanted, sending out his wolves in the middle of the night to murder members of other packs while they slept. It mattered not to him or his pack whether or not they were male, female, pregnant with pups, or on many occasions pups themselves. They crept into their dens and gagged them, tied them up. They would kill the male and make the female watch him slowly bleed to death and if they had pups they would force the mother to watch as they were slowly crushed in the northern wolves' jaws. Then, after all was said and done, they would rape the female and kill her then drag the bodies of their victims out into the night and scatter them carelessly about the territory. Nobody was safe from the ruthless murders of the North. As insult to injury, the packs knew that there was nothing that they could do to stop them for they were simply too feeble and too few in comparison to their tormentors. However, this recent attack was it; the absolute last straw. There was no way in hell that they were just gonna sit back and continue to allow the North to slowly kill them off. Something had to be done and it had to be done now; but the question was what? <em>

_It wouldn't be for another few days before one brilliant wolf in the South that everybody would forever remember as the "Savior of Jasper" came forward with a solution to the problem concerning the North. He suggested that their leaders call an emergency meeting with the other High Alphas from the West, East, and White Pass, for they all knew that the North had hit them hard as well. As was expected, the High Alphas from the other three packs in Jasper were more than willing to attend if it meant a possibility that they would get to sleep peacefully at night without the fear of not making it to the next dawn. The meeting was set for noon that day, and all who attended thought that it was a joke when a scrawny omega took the speech rock; but after a short debate with the Southern Alphas, those from the other territories decided to listen to what it was that he had to say. It seemed insane at first, the system that he was suggesting, for for the most part the packs just looked out for themselves and stayed out of the affairs of others. The thought of actually allying themselves with other packs was beyond their comprehension because it had never been done before; but as the young omega continued, the more and more hi suggestion made sense. Alone, they were powerless against the North, but together, their numbers nearly doubled that of their aggressors and with that in their favor they would actually stand a chance in battle against their northern foes. He declared that each pack should be able to rely upon the others in the event of a war with the North should it ever arise. The plan was good, but it had a few holes, like the problem with the night time raids. After a long debate between the omega and the Alphas from his and the other packs a resolution was made. Each pack was required to take the top five graduates from their alpha schools and send them to the South for extensive training where they would take advanced training courses in defensive tactics and fighting skills, and would train hard to make them as big as possible. These classes would last for an extra month and by the time they were finished the twenty selected alphas would be the perfect fighting machines. In the course of this month the East and West made a pact to each spare the northern borders of their territory for about a half mile into their territory for the creation of a brand new territory known as the Northern Guard. This new territory would be where the twenty alphas would be sent, their primary objective; protect and defend the Northern Border at all costs for they were the only defense between the North and the rest of the now allied packs, sworn and bound under the name of the "United Packs of Jasper" or "U.P.J." for short. Like all first drafts this system was flawed so they had to go back and reframe their constitution, the five packs coming together again for the reframing. One of the initial complaints was that the alphas up in the Northern Guard were exhausted and would often times be caught sleeping on the job so in order to resolve the matter, they would work twenty-four hour shifts, ten of them staying up to keep eyes on the North while the others rested and hunted for those who guarded. Then once their shift was up, those who stayed out and kept watch would go to their dens, eat, and then rest for their next shift. It was also decided that the Guards would serve a two year term before being replaced by a new one. The next problem to be addressed was aroused by the murder of one of White Pass' High Alphas. They never figured out exactly who committed the crime, but they did reach the decision that whenever the Alpha of any pack under the U.P.J. was murdered each pack would send five alphas to hunt the fugitive down and bring him to justice. Now to keep it fair on the numbers of alphas that were sent, one alpha from each allegiance in the Northern Guard would be sent on the hunt. A third problem arose when the East failed to aid the West in an attack that cost the life of one of the Western Alphas' pups. In response to this the East was kicked from the U.P.J. until the next generation of Alphas took the command, and the only way for the East to rejoin the U.P.J. would be the marriage of the East and West Alpha's firstborns, gender prohibiting of course. If not, then they would have to wait until one of the Alpha couples had a pup that could be married to the other. _

_Unfortunately for Tony and Winston, they inherited the troubles that Tony's mother and father left behind in the time of their deaths, leaving them and their mates to clean up the mess; but that was easier said than done seeing as that it was Winston's younger brother who was killed in the absence of their Eastern "allies." This drove the once good friends apart, resulting in a four year feud between the East and West, one of which they knew could only be resolved by the marriage of their firstborns, and the re-annexation of the East into the U.P.J._

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for the first representatives of the U.P.J. to arrive out of the shadows, these four wolves looking as though they were from the South judging from their scents and the way they carried themselves. They were being escorted in by two of Tony's border guards and once they were in the clearing, the Southern representatives thanked the guards then sent them on their way. They were immediately wary of Tony, keeping close eyes on him, but they still went over and greeted Eve then sat beside her as they waited for the other representatives from White Pass.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Well guys, I'm gonna cut her off here because it is currently 1:37 a.m., I have school tomorrow, and quite honestly I just don't feel much like running off into anymore politics at the moment. So what did y'all think of that little bit of juicy information concerning the East and west? Was it pretty good? Was it different? Tell me what you guys think in a review.<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

_Hey guys, I apologize sincerely for how long it has taken me to update this, or any of my other stories for that matter. I went on vacation on the 6__th__ and didn't get back till the 18__th__ and since then have been out at my dad's house where I do not normally have access to a computer. However, I got a laptop before I left for vacation, and as such have been working diligently on updating this for you. Another reason as to why this took so damn long shall be explained shortly._

**And guys you know I hate blasting y'all with politics and all, but I can't stress enough to you how important this will be because it will explain EVERYTHING that you need to know concerning the soon to be created East-West pact. If you would please just bear with me through this I think this will be the final chapter that will deal with the laws and all that, and then we can move on into what you guys really care about. **

_Also, due to the ridiculous length of the original draft of this chapter, (12,554 words) I will be dividing it out into three parts, meaning that it will show up as three different chapters, but it will all be chapter 12. With that out of the way, I'd like to present to you for your viewing pleasures, part one of Chapter 12. _

**Chapter 12 Part 1**

The representatives from White Pass were known by many as the Wind Talkers, the pair receiving this name for their strange ability to communicate with and walk on the wind. As far as anybody knew they were the only wolves in existence with such supernatural powers, besides Jenimar and Akiro of course, and therefor were held in high regard, even higher so than the Command and the Alphas for their unsurpassable wisdom. They were also believed to be the oldest wolves in the entire park, this statistic reaching out to and including the rogue, unclaimed lands beyond the borders of Allied Jasper. The legends concerning these two individuals, however, were a huge call for controversy, there being so many that their true history was never known. In fact, there were so many different tales that their story was simply reduced to mixed lore and superstition. Some say that they were the first wolves to settle in Jasper, and that they were descendants from Jenimar himself, given the ability to speak with the wind as a gift of infinite knowledge, while others agree to such claims; but they say that their gift of immortality and wind talking was given to them as a punishment from Akiro for meddling in the ancient ways of Native magic. In many ways both ends of the argument held some pretty substantial points. While the truth was still unknown, for the Wind Talkers never spoke of such things, it was subconsciously agreed that the gift they were given was a blessed curse, a chunk of shit wrapped in a thin skin of gold. Their capacity of knowledge was astounding, but in lean of that they were wrought with the curse of immortality, having lived long enough, it was said, to see generation upon generation of their family die; so it was a certain common understanding amongst all who knew of them that the couple decided to never again have pups for the pain of outliving your children is quite possibly the worst kind of hurt that you could ever endure. These two dark angels were the ones that the West, East, and South now awaited, the three groups pricking their ears and tuning them in for that distinct flapping sound that would signify their arrival.

Five minutes passed, then ten, and it was beginning to look as though they weren't coming and that this whole thing was going to be a waste of time.

"What's taking them so long?" Cher whispered to Flint, growing impatient of this tedious waiting.

"I don't know," Flint replied in a hushed tone, for he too was growing weary of this insufferable silence.

"Shh," they heard Candu warn and they turned to him, seeing him cocking his head to the side so he could hear better; for he was not the type that was very fond of being snuck up on.

Flint and Cher nodded nonchalantly and fell into silence again, returning their gaze out to whatever peaked their interests and passed the time, Cher occupying her wandering mind by watching the leaves dance as they fluttered down from the poplars while Flint craned his neck skyward and spectated the birds as they flew overhead. Eve stood beside Tony, the diplomats of the South beside him, the four wolves running their eyes slowly about their entire vicinity, looking through the shadows cast down by the trees, all the while keeping their ears sharply trained for even the slightest disturbance in the land around them. Quite suddenly there was the distant sound of an unexpected gust of wind rolling across the land; an odd occurrence for the earth was nearly breathless today. The sound of wind grew nearer and they could see the tops of the distant trees beginning to sway forward as though they were all a part of a single shockwave, and then rock backward into their original place when the wind passed them. As suddenly as they had seen it did the wall of air rush past them, blasting the wolves and making them brace against it. Their fur was slapped fiercely back by the sudden rush of turbulence and everywhere around them the dirt and leaves were kicked up and sent careening sporadically in all directions over the creek as the air roared its way past. As quickly as it came the breeze vanished and the land settled once again into an eerie silence, everything about them falling deathly still. Though they were consciously unaware, the wolves all gulped, feeling the imminent arrival of the Wind Talkers. Though they knew that their allegiance rested with them, they could not escape a certain tangible fear of the Wind Talkers; but their fear resulted not from tyranny, but from a deep respect for the supernatural and the things unknown, things that they themselves would never understand. Still the silence ensued, hanging thickly in the air and making the atmosphere feel heavy.

Another three minutes passed, another three minutes of intensive silence and rigidness amongst the wolves. They had been waiting for at least a solid fifteen minutes now, waiting for their mysterious colleagues to arrive, and yet the diplomats of the Pass _still _remained aloof. All of this waiting was beginning to leave a stale taste in every wolf's mouth save for one, that taste being one of bitterness on Eve's incredulous tongue. All of this pointless standing around was doing nothing except wasting their time, time that Humphrey was surely using to steadily put distance between himself and the punishment that awaited him in the moment of his apprehension. She knew that the boarder was sealed off as of right now, but that did not mean that he was still inside. He had at least six minutes to make his escape before it was shut down and six minutes was plenty of time for anybody to get across the border from Tooth River.

Another five minutes passed.

"Augh, this is getting ridiculous," Candu complained, "where in the hell are those two?"

Like speaking the devil's name, there was a short flapping sound beside him followed quickly there after by a pair of solid white wolves, save black paws and tail tips.

"Holy fuck!" Candu yelled in fright and went toppling off from his rock perch, crashing ungracefully to the ground by means of the back of his head.

Immense laughter immediately erupted from the group of wolves, except Candu who growled in an enraged embarrassment, and the Wind Talkers who stood exactly as they had arrived; quiet and completely emotionless. One of them cast a flat gaze in the direction of Candu, seeing him to his feet, and then turned her head nonchalantly to the front.

"Apologies friend," she said monotonously, keeping her eyes forward.

Candu offered no verbal reply. He simply growled under his breath and collected what was left of his dignity then pulled himself back up onto his perch, returning his gaze to the other representatives as though nothing had happened. The two Wind Talkers walked by him in a businesslike fashion, moving toward Eve, Tony, and the advocates of the South; the four of them turning and meeting the wolves from the Pass for the first time in almost four years. The group of officials each took their turns in greeting each other, Tony included even though the others did not fully trust why he was there in the first place, and then sat down in a circle, a distance of maybe three feet between each of their sides. The laughter died away and the alphas from the West and the omegas from the East looked on in amazement for they had never thought in their lifetime that that they would get to witness one of these meetings.

"Welcome friends," Eve greeted the others with a gesture of her eyes.

The other diplomats nodded curtly and a long silence followed, building an awkward tension toward Tony.

"For what reason are we here in the East?" one of the Southern representatives asked finally, "Are they not traitors and enemies of the Union?"

This drew nods of agreement from the Wind Talkers, but they didn't speak. Tony was hurt by that last remark, but he buried it for he knew that he was skating on thin ice as it was. The last thing he wanted was to get himself into even bigger trouble with the Union.

"We were summoned to our border by Eve, High Alpha of the West," Tony began.

The male of the Wind Talkers spoke.

"Why?" he demanded, "What reason would she have to affiliate with the offspring of Corbin and Genevieve?"

Tony's jaw briefly locked up at the distasteful mention of his parents, but he managed to calm himself again.

"She called us here for a meeting," Tony began again, "I'm sure that by now you've all been informed of our conflict concerning the disappearance of the Western S.I.C.?" he inquired.

The speakers of the South and Pass nodded.

"Well, it was the greatest misfortune that our petty disagreement resulted in the death of the West's Second," Tony continued, hanging his head low in shame.

The other officials took this in with a mixture of shock and anger, even the Wind Talkers for it would seem that the earth has been keeping secrets from them.

"You ordered to have her killed?" the female of the Wind talkers demanded pointedly.

"No it- it was an accident," Tony replied sadly.

"Accident?" the tan furred diplomat from the South pressed loudly, "explain to me just how in the hell you "_accidently_" kill an important official in a rival pack, and during a battle no less."

"Peace Kemo," Eve replied in Tony's defense.

The one named Kemo shook his head and held his tongue, but the male Wind Talker spoke out.

"Fine," he began flatly, his gaze one of inquisition and judgment, "Tell us exactly how she was killed, then we shall here Eve's side of the story and if they are compatible we shall believe you; but if at any time she accuses you of lying you will face punishment for what has happened to Kate, understood?"

Tony gulped and nodded, hoping that he could truly trust his Western neighbor to be honorable in this bargain.

"Begin," the female Wind Talker said.

Tony took in a breath and collected his thoughts.

"Alright, well… I guess I should start back when Winston and I set up the arrangement for Kate's meeting of my oldest son Garth a couple of days ago," Tony began, thinking hard to remember every detail, "It was right after I had sent a party of alphas out into the West to try and at least get us a decent meal. Now I know that I was violating the laws of eviction, but my pack was starving because of our depletion of the caribou supply," he defended, though he wasn't sure what purpose it would serve for the rules concerning trespassing were quite clear, "well based off of what they told me their hunt wound up bleeding into one led by the S.I.C. and they got into a fight after a near miss with a stampede. They didn't go into detail but they pretty much just said that Winston broke it up and sent them home."

"That was very gracious of him to do so," the gray representative from the South inquired, "he could very well have ordered them to be killed."

The others nodded in agreement and looked to Tony.

"I know he could have," Tony answered, "and I'm quite grateful for his merciful act."

Tony paused for a brief moment to further collect his thoughts then continued.

"When they came home I asked for a report and they told me everything that happened, including their little side trip to a certain wolf named Candu."

Said wolf growled loudly, thus cutting Tony off and gaining the attention of the whole of the group.

"Those cowardly bastards got me while I had my back turned," he seethed angrily.

Tony looked apologetically at Candu.

"I know and I apologize for that," Tony condoled, "When they told me what they did I was furious. I couldn't believe that they would do something so disgraceful, so as punishment for their cowardly act I ordered them to have their ranks stripped until the next winter."

This seemed to ease Candu slightly, giving him a sense that he finally received some justice for the wrong that had been done to him.

"Now when the Alphas from the West got word of this I guess we had crossed the final line," Tony continued, attention focusing solely upon him once again, "and the late Winston summoned me for a little talk."

Everybody continued to listen intently to what Tony was saying, nobody saying a word.

"Now as I'm sure you are all aware, Winston and I had been growing weary of the fighting and had trying to mend what had been destroyed by my parents," Tony continued further, receiving nods from the officials of the other packs, "so we set up a date for Kate and Garth at the Moonlight Howl that night. Now I'm not fully sure about what had happened there, but in the end, my son told me, the last he had seen of Kate was when she told him that she was going to get a drink of water; said that she never returned. Of course this would make me suspicious of foul play on the part of the West," Tony confessed, "so I called for another meeting, this time with our alphas present and we set up a reprieve for Kate's return, giving them until the first full moon to find her with the threat of war if they failed to comply."

"Is this true Eve?" the male Wind Talker asked.

"From what I've been told and what I've seen with my own eyes Tony has been truthful with you," Eve answered honestly, "there is nothing that he has said that didn't happen."

"Very good," the Wind Talker stated flatly with a slight nod to Tony, "continue."

"Well three days later was the night of the full moon and Kate had yet to make an appearance so we felt, well I felt to be completely honest, that we had no choice but to go into battle because of their betrayal; so at around eleven o'clock that night we met on each side of the Western Valley to do battle."

Tony took another collective moment, pausing to catch his breath and his thoughts.

"We broke out into total warfare, slaughtering each other over something so asinine," Tony began again, "and now that it is all said and done I regret this, but just when I was on the brink of taking the life of the late Winston we heard Kate yell out over the chaos. We all immediately stopped fighting, happy that she had shown up, but that was short lived when we realized that there was a stampede heading directly to us. We scattered to all sides of the valley, but the omega daughter of the Western Alphas fell behind in the attempt to escape. Winston and Eve fell back to save her, but by the time they did they were trapped with only one direction left to go. Now I thought that they were all going to die, but then the most incredible thing happened."

Tony again stopped, and then continued.

"From out of the sky came a log, on it Kate and an omega by the name of Humphrey. They brought their vessel down directly in front of the fleeing family, but they landed badly and were sent out into the stampede," Tony explained, "I couldn't see for sure what had happened next, but before I knew it I saw the most horrifying thing my eyes had ever witnessed; something that I do not wish to speak of."

The others nodded their understanding, and they could also notice that Eve was beginning to tear up at the painful memory; but she refused to cry.

"Kate died that night in the arms of the omega, her cause of death being an impact to the temple," Tony finished, "and after that we went home. And that's how this whole mess happened. It was entirely my fault, and though I was not personally involved in the passing of the Second, I can't help but feel responsible for what had happened to her."

The representatives from the South and the Pass gazed at him inquiringly, trying to separate fact from fiction, trying to pick around everything that they had just been told to find any untruth; but everything that he had said seemed fairly likely. The final word would have to rest with Eve.

"Is this true Eve," the female diplomat from the South asked.

"It's true," Eve answered, regaining control of her emotions, "every word he has spoken."

The others all nodded slowly, thinking and contemplating.

"So what does this have to do with why she came here today?" Kemo asked, a lot calmer this time.

Eve spoke out.

"I came here to make amends," she answered, gaining everybody's attention, "and for your help."

That last statement drew in the other diplomats' undivided attention.

"Help?" the female Wind Talker asked, "what matters of our help would you need?"

"Matters concerning why it is that my husband is not here with us this evening," Eve answered flatly.

There was muttering amongst the other officials, besides Tony, for they had wondered previously why it was that the other Alpha of the West was absent, but did not know why.

"Why is your husband not with us today?" Kemo finally asked, lifting his head to Eve.

"Winston is… he's dead," Eve answered slowly, painfully.


	13. Chapter 13

**Part 2**

The news shocked the Southern diplomats; but it seemed to have no visible effect on the Wind Talkers. They kept themselves composed in a way that resembled pure strength and discipline, making them appear as though they already known about what it was that Eve was speaking of. However, this was not the case, for it would seem as though the wind had been keeping quite a few secrets lately. This was something that they would have to ponder and take up with Jenimar later, but for right now they needed to get to the bottom of the news that they were just given.

"Dead?" the still unnamed Southern diplomat reiterated, her shock bleeding incredulously through her tone.

Eve only nodded; still trying to force the painful sight from her mind, but no matter how she tried it was always there to taunt her; tormenting her feelings and her thoughts with pain and sadness. For a long moment nobody spoke, for they just could not comprehend what they were being told. It was like a scene in which a parent had just been informed of the passing of their young child, a silent moroseness that was laced with disbelief and denial; no, it was not possible that something like this could have happened. It was a lie, a trick, a bad dream and they would simply open their eyes and this would all go away.

"No, that can't be," Kemo said monotonously, "that guy was the toughest old bastard I'd ever seen in my life. There's no way he could have died."

The others nodded in their agreement. They had known Winston almost their entire lives. They knew what he was capable of doing. What could possibly kill him out of the blue like this?

Eve heaved a deep sigh of sadness.

"Not even a skull as thick as his could protect him from his aneurysm," Eve replied morosely, "he- he just got hit in the right spot I guess."

The other representatives, Tony included, began to mutter amongst themselves, for this was the first time that they had learned of his cause of death.

"H-how did it happen?" the female from the South asked in a near whisper, "who did this?"

Eve's jaw locked and her body tensed and a low growl began emitting down in the depths of her throat.

"He was killed by one of our omegas, by the name of Humphrey," she seethed out angrily, nearly hissing the word 'Humphrey' so great was the distaste in the mention of his name.

The others cocked their heads.

"An omega?" Kemo asked astounded.

"Yeah, that had to be an accident," the male Wind Talker continued in disbelief.

"A joke gone wrong," the Southern female added in.

Eve flexed her claws in the dirt and gritted her teeth.

"It was no accident," she replied venomously, her teeth still tightly clenched.

The others were still trying to wrap their heads around this. How could an omega ever even hope to land a strike on an alpha and one the likes of Winston no less? It HAD to be a mistake.

"No," Kemo said still in the throes of disbelief, "I- I just can't believe that," he finished with a shake of his head.

The others felt the same way, but they remained silent.

"Well believe it," Eve replied bitterly, her eyes almost seeming to be ablaze with rage.

The female Wind Talker was the only one to keep perfect composure throughout the entire conversation and now she was going to be the one to get it back on the right track, altering the course away from denial and toward an explanation.

"Tell us how it happened," she stated flatly, receiving nods from the others.

The omegas from the East leaned in close to hear the story while the alphas from the West were left with a bad taste in their mouths for they already knew the story having witnessed it firsthand.

Eve shook her head slowly in aggravation and sighed for this was not something that she felt entirely comfortable with reliving, but she knew that she had to answer if the representatives from the other Packs were to take her side and join in on the hunt.

"Well we need to go back to where this all began," Eve said as she began to tell her tale.

She took in a long breath and began a short moment later.

"The death of my daughter devastated my entire pack," she mused to the others, "but it seemed to have impacted our wolf in question the most, almost as though he were like in love with her or something ridiculous like that."

"Impacted him how?" Kemo asked inquiringly, ignoring Eve's comment concerning the relationship between Humphrey and Kate.

"Impacted him enough to make him go nuts," Eve replied distastefully, "enough so that when we first tried to help him he assaulted my mate then try and kill himself in a terrible fashion a few days later."

Jaws dropped everywhere.

"Why would you allow him to live for that long after he committed a crime so severe?" Kemo pressed urgently, finding it completely unbelievable that they would tolerate such a heinous act.

Eve hung her head.

"I- I was going to kill him," she answered, "but Winston stopped me, saying that he had it coming because he was warned to keep his distance and approached anyway."

"But why would he do such a thing in the first place?" the male Wind Talker asked, "Why would he take getting struck by an _omega."_

"Yeah," the others added, "especially knowing that if it were an alpha to strike him like that they would have died on the spot," the female representative from the South stated.

Eve sighed and dropped her head, embittered by such a betrayal from Humphrey.

"He was like a son to him, Humphrey was," Eve said regretfully, "because of similar experiences that my mate and he shared when they were young."

Nobody said anything, so Eve continued.

"Humphrey's parents died when he was but a juvenile, maybe two months old," Eve began again, "in an accident involving Howling Rock Falls, though he claims foul play on the part of two of my best alphas," she finished bitterly, insulted that he would make such accusations about such "great" wolves.

"Foul play you said?" Tony inquired, for he himself knew of the passing of Humphrey's parents, but he was not informed of the cause.

Eve shook her head.

"He claims to have seen my alphas tie the two of them up and throw them off," Eve answered, "even though there was no visible evidence of such a thing when we investigated it."

Tony nodded, seeing some problems in what he was being told; but he would address those matters later for the one at hand was more of a priority than the death of two omegas.

"I do believe that we are getting too far away from the point," the female Wind Talker said flatly, almost as though she were growing weary of the side stories, "so Winston allowed Humphrey to hit him, why? You have failed to provide a direct reason."

Eve nodded.

"Okay, well following my daughter's… funeral" she continued, pausing before the word 'funeral' almost as though she still could not believe that she had to hold such a thing for Kate, "Humphrey retreated to his den where he stayed all alone, and had an emotional breakdown."

Eve paused to make sure that everybody was following her, and continued when she received slow nods from the others.

"It started off with just this horrible bawling from him," Eve mused, "and, according to my nephew Salty, a very close friend of Humphrey's, he and two others went to Humphrey's den to try and comfort him. Salty says he went inside alone and when he tried to talk to Humphrey he was told to leave, but, like my husband, he resisted, and ultimately wound up getting hit. He proved this to me when I talked to him by showing me a row of cuts on his cheek. Anyway, Salty left and I guess that it was right about this time that Humphrey just let it all out."

The others were quite surprised to learn that this Humphrey character had assaulted not only one, but two members of the pack in one day, and lived to see the next dawn. It was just beyond their comprehension that Winston and Eve would allow such events to transpire.

"We heard this God awful screaming and cursing coming from inside of Humphrey's den," Eve continued, "so we went to investigate, and we found Humphrey in the middle of a fit of rage. He beat the walls of his den until his paw broke, and threw his head into it, stunning himself. It was right about this time that Winston tried to step in, but Humphrey told my mate to 'stay the fuck away,'" Eve stated, speaking the latter of the sentence in the words of the rouge omega, "Winston didn't listen and approached him, touching his shoulder and Humphrey struck him," Eve finished.

The Wind Talker was satisfied and nodded, gesturing for Eve to continue.

"This was only the beginning," Eve said monotonously, running her eyes over each of the other diplomats, "It was another two days before another recordable incident occurred," she informed, "but on this day was the day that we guess he completely lost his mind because of what we found inside of his den, and what plan that it depicted."

The representatives from the South leaned in close, completely intrigued with such a tale, while the Wind Talkers remained firm, their complexion as hard as rock.

"His plan was one of suicide," Eve continued on, "I won't go into detail so don't ask."

The others nodded.

"Long story short, we saved Humphrey from completing his plan; but he had to be beaten half to death before he could be carried home," she said emotionlessly, "When we got him back to his den we tied him up so he couldn't go anywhere, mainly as a means for his own protection, and we called the pack together for an emergency meeting concerning what should be done with him. We were divided in our pack, some thinking that he should be killed because he was a danger to himself and to everyone else in the pack, while others, including our pack's healer," she pointed to Amina, "and my nephew Salty, felt that he could still be saved and that killing him would be unjust. After a long debate, my passed husband gave Humphrey a reprieve of three weeks and put Amina and Salty solely responsible for seeing to it that Humphrey got the treatment that he needed."

Eve paused briefly to breath, and then began again.

"Now they tell me that when the meeting was adjourned, they went straight to Humphrey's den, and they say that when they were short distance away they heard somebody screaming in pain. Fearing the worst, they said that they hightailed it to his den, getting there just in time to witness the murder of an alpha by the name of Zach, son of Sam and Lundy."

"You speak as though the death of the son of Sam and Lundy is significant," the female Wind Talker pointed out, "why would the death of their son seem to matter so to you?"

Everybody turned to Eve for an explanation, one of which she was more than happy to give.

"Zach was the son of those who Humphrey blamed for the death of his parents," Eve answered incredulously, receiving expressions of shock from the others.

"You mean that he did it as vengeance?" Kemo asked.

Eve hung her head.

"We don't know for sure why he did it," she answered, "but that is what we assumed, because what other reason would he possibly have to commit such a heinous act?"

The others nodded their understanding to Eve's logic, but remained quiet so she could continue.

"Well, after they found out what had happened, they told me that Humphrey simply lay down and gave himself up, said that it was almost as though he wanted to die. So they tied him up again and this time Amina took the extra precaution to put him under sedation, which they forced him into, and then left him in the den to report back to me and Winston. They told us what they saw, and what they did, and asked us what we should do; and obviously we told them to bring him to the Main Grounds for a trial and execution. When he arrived he picked a fight with Sam and Lundy, one so bad that we had to physically knock them unconscious just to calm them down."

"Damn," Tony muttered under his breath. He had no idea how bad things had gotten in the West.

"Yeah," Eve replied, "so after that my husband went to put him down and then, just when you think the son of a bitch couldn't sink any lower, that bastard of an omega decided that he was going to act like my daughter was alive somehow and was right there behind us. Of course when we turned around she wasn't there, and I don't know why we even thought that we could believe him in the first place," Eve mused, "guess that sometimes we hope for the impossible. So Humphrey starts to panic and tries to get free, calling my daughter's name the whole time, and my husband had to try to hold him. Well Humphrey turned and kicked Winston in the gut and sent him headlong into our Speech Rock… ending his life," Eve finished sadly.

"And you did nothing?" Kemo pressed, receiving nods from the others.

"You bet your ass we didn't," Eve replied with an angry growl, "we tried to get to him, but he cut himself free and was off before we could even get close."

The others relinquished their previous accusations and had Eve continue.

"We chased him through the West, but he had a substantial lead on us, and I have to give it to him; for an omega, and one with a broken leg at that, that boy can run. We lost his trail _twice_, giving him more time, but in the end we found him right off of the rapids at Raven Point. He was _still _"talking" to Kate, and he said that they needed to jump, which he did and now here we are," Eve finished finally, "In the East requesting permission to search and cease, and requesting help from the Union in bringing in this fugitive."

Eve and the rest of the diplomats from the other of the Packs all looked around at each other, waiting for somebody to say something, and for a long moment nobody did; thus spiraling them downward into yet another droned out silence. Everybody simply stared awkwardly at each other, looking to their counterparts to kick off the next phase of the meeting.

"Well, I will grant you permission to scout my territory for Humphrey," Tony finally said, keeping his voice low.

Eve nodded; but there was a problem.

"Now hold on just a second friends," the female Wind Talker cut in, "you forget that the East is no longer a part of the Union, and because of this, our ancient laws forbid us from operating inside of her borders, _regardless _of anything that her leader permits," she reminded, receiving nods of agreement from her male counterpart and the representatives from the South.

Eve hung her head and cursed under her breath, knowing what it was that she was about to get herself into.

"Alright," Eve said in an exasperated tone, rubbing a paw over her face in a tired fashion "so where do you wanna begin?"

The female representative from the South stepped forward.

"We can start by making a compromise between your two packs," she proposed.

"Yes," the male of the Wind Talkers agreed, "since there were no victors in this battle, merely a resolution, there should not be a one of you that has greater say than the other in the matter concerning your packs," he explained, referring to Eve and Tony, "each of you shall discuss the matter with each other."

Eve and tony nodded, showing their supernatural friend that they understood what they were being told.

"You are not to come away from this assembly without meeting your terms in a way that you both agree upon," he explained further, "or else your decision shall be counted as void and we will be forced to decline your request for assistance," he finished.

Eve and Tony looked briefly at each other, then out to the male Wind Talker, and then back to each other again.

"You may take all the time that you require," Kemo informed with a nod.

Eve and Tony slowly turned around, their backs facing the other representatives, and leaned their heads in close together.

"What do you think?" Eve asked Tony in a low whisper.

"I don't know," Tony answered, "I thought that you would at least have some type of plan."

Eve hung her head with an exasperated sigh.

"Alright, well it looks like we're gonna have to start from square one," she mused to Tony, receiving a nod of affirmation form the latter, "what do you want to do about the situation concerning yours and Winston's parents?"

Tony let his head droop toward the ground, letting his ears fall slightly toward his skull, and shook his head slowly with eyes lightly closed.

"If I _could_, I'd rewind the clock so this whole mess would've never happened," Tony answered regretfully, letting his eyes slowly open again when he finished.

Eve sighed.

"Well, we can't change the past," she said dryly, looking down and off to the left, "we can only figure out what to do about it so it doesn't affect our future any more than it already has."

Tony nodded in slow agreement, his dark tail dropping about an inch, and then lifting again to its original position.

"So what do you suggest we do?" he asked flatly.

Eve sighed in exasperation and laid her ears flat upon her skull.

"I suppose we should just… let it go," she answered, her voice expressing defeat through means of airiness and the length of her words, "the death of my brother-in-law hit us hard, but that was so many years ago," she reasoned, "it seems so pointless to me now, all that time spent holding onto a grudge when we should have been working to resolve the issue."

Tony nodded intently as he listened to Eve, but he sighed and blinked his eyes, looking down at his paws.

"What uh- what about Winston?" he asked sadly, "was he not still bitter when he looked upon me? Were his eyes not still filled with disgust whenever they settled upon the son of Corbin?"

Eve dropped her head slightly, and then raised it again to look Tony in the eyes.

"To say the truth, he never blamed you personally," she informed, "for it was not you who had caused him such pain; but he could not forgive your father, and in his mind when he looked upon you, he was looking upon the one responsible for his brother's death; which is why he resented you so."

Tony bobbed his head languidly, almost sadly, for the truth hurt him. He felt the sting of moroseness in his heart, one brought upon by the curse that he had inherited. He always knew this, for many others had told him, and every day since the shameful act he regretted it deeply; but he was practically a cloned image of his father, the only difference between the two being that of size. It was Tony's greatest and worst reminder of what his father was, and every day he struggled to keep himself from becoming the thing that he represented. But he knew that as of late he had become exactly that, and he hated himself deeply for it, resented himself, and cursed himself for letting himself take after his bastard of a father.

"He saw me like that?" Tony asked sadly, receiving a slow nod from Eve.

Tony growled.

"Fuck!" he seethed sourly under his breath and slammed his paw down into the dirt.

"Tony it's okay," Eve comforted, placing a gentle paw onto his shoulder.

Tony sighed and lifted his head.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, rubbing one of his temples with the padding on one of his paws.

Don't be," Eve replied, "You have every right to be angry; but right now we need to get passed that so we can get this whole thing worked out."

Tony nodded.

"Alright, so, what are we going to do?" he asked.

"Exactly as I said earlier," Eve replied, "it never happened."

Tony considered this briefly, for he felt bad that such a thing as this should just be forgotten now that Winston was gone; but after only a short moment of thought he nodded.

"Alright," he said finally.

Eve gave a curt nod and then sat back on her haunches. Tony followed suit, and yet another long silence ensued, falling heavily upon them again.

"What… what's next?" Eve asked slowly, finally breaking the silence.

Tony shifted.

"Well… I guess the next thing to do would be to make a pact with you that will bring the Union back together," Tony suggested nervously, wondering just exactly how it was that the other representatives would take this.

The others failed to ease Tony's collective mind by keeping themselves quiet and sending him facial expressions that were impossible to read. Tony was wary of the silence, feeling it impose upon him, making him feel small even though he was one of the largest wolves present in physical stature.

"But how are we going to do that?" Eve asked in a slight whisper, "to begin with you don't even have representatives and what about that golden law?" she continued, "The only way for you to get back in would be through the marriage of our firstborns, but mine…"

Eve trailed off, letting her eyes close lightly.

"Don't you have a second daughter?" Tony inquired, thinking back a few nights to when he caught Garth howling with Lilly.

Eve slowly opened her eyes.

"Well yes, but she's an omega," she answered, "what about the Sacred Laws?"

"Alphas and omegas cannot become partners in courtship," Tony confirmed with a sigh as he remembered her status, reciting just one of the many Laws.

Eve dropped her head then lifted it again when a thought hit her.

"Well what about Perdue?" she asked, referring to Tony's second son, Garth's younger brother, "isn't he an omega?"

Tony dropped his head.

"He was," he replied with a sigh, "but when Kate was supposed to be married to Garth I trained him to be an alpha so he could assume the Second position in lee of Garth's absence."

Eve sighed in defeat and slowly ran her paw through the fur on the top of her head, clutching her pads gently near the base of her head then brought her paw back forward, running her pads through her head fur, and then placed her paw down to the ground.

"Damn it," she whispered when her paw hit the ground.

She lifted her eyes to Tony and he met them with his.

"So what the hell are we supposed to do then?" Eve asked in a normal level of volume, though her tone was hard pressed and aggravated.

"I don't know," Tony answered equally as loud and with the same tone.

"If I may make a suggestion," the female Wind Talker chimed in.

Tony and Eve both turned to face her, as did everybody else.

"What is it?" Eve asked.

"The way I see it, you have two options here," the Wind Talker began matter-of-factly, "first you could train your second daughter to be an alpha and unite the packs through marriage, or second, you and Tony there could hook up and unite the packs the same way."


	14. Chapter 14

**Part 3**

**Alright people, this will be the final part of this chapter, but I will warn you now that it is a long one so buckle up cause you're in for one hell of a time with this one.**

There was some sniggering in the background after what it was that the Wind Talker had just suggested, but Eve and Tony were thrown through a loop, Eve especially. She had _just_ lost Winston and now they expected her to marry _Tony. _She was still down about Winston, there was no way in hell she would be ready to marry _anybody _any time soon.

"Impossible," Eve answered flatly.

"And why is that?" the female Wind Talker inquired.

Eve mentally slapped the Wind Talker and put on the "are you fucking kidding me" face.

"Lilly is nowhere close to being alpha material," she answered, "she can't even stand to look at blood, won't touch a piece of meat until it has been thoroughly cleaned of it, and above all else, she is the definition of a pacifist. She wouldn't fight back even if you tried to kill her; and I for one am not going to be thrown into marriage right after I just lost my husband."

The Wind Talkers seemed to catch a glint in their eyes, almost as though they knew something that Eve didn't; but that glint quickly faded out.

"Well then carry on," she answered, gesturing for Eve and Tony to get back to compromising.

Eve rolled her eyes and turned back to Tony.

"This is getting ridiculous," she whispered to him.

"I know," he answered her.

Eve dropped her head in exasperation, and then lifted it when another idea hit her.

"Tony come here," she whispered urgently, motioning for him to lean his head in.

Tony was confused and cocked his head to the side.

"Come here!" Eve whispered more urgently and pulled his head to her by the means of biting his ear.

"Ouch!" Tony yelled when his head was pulled down and his ear was released.

"Sorry," Eve replied quickly, "but listen to this."

Tony tilted his head over slightly, intrigued about what Eve was going to tell him.

"Alright, so you guys can't become part of the Union again unless you were to marry me or Lilly were to marry Garth or Purdue right?" Eve asked in a whisper.

"Yeah," Tony replied in a confused tone, arching an eyebrow.

"Alright, well, picture this," Eve began excitedly, "Lilly and Garth courting is out of the question; but what if _we_ were to _pretend _that we were going to get married?"

Ton's eyes widened.

"What?" he whispered in shock.

"Not for real, just pretend," Eve answered quickly, "And maybe by the time this whole thing is over I can work out a deal for the abolishment of the Alpha Law."

"Abolishment of _what?" _Tony asked in a tone that was only just below a normal voice.

"Shh," Eve warned.

"But we _can't," _Tony replied casting a glance back toward the representatives, "that law has been part of Wolf Code before the Union was even created and-"

Eve shook her head.

"I didn't say that it was going to be easy," she interrupted, "but if you could trust me I'm sure it could be done."

Tony lowered his head.

"_What, is she nuts?" _he thought, _"It would never happen. The law concerning alphas and omegas was practically written in stone. How could she possibly hope to change such a law?"_

"Well…" Tony began slowly, looking off to his right.

Eve was irritated by his indecision and cast him a low growl that only he could hear. Hearing the growl, Tony jerked his head back slightly.

"Alright, alright okay," he conceded quickly, keeping his voice low, "but I still don't think this is going to work."

Eve shook her head.

"Just follow my lead," she whispered and turned to face the others.

Tony gulped and turned around shortly after Eve, casting a worried glance from her to the others around him almost as though he were watching an imaginary game of ping pong. He could feel his body warming under his fur and could sense the sweat beginning to form on his skin. His heart rate escalated and he shook violently, hopefully not noticeably, as his fears began to take control of his actions.

"_Calm down,"_ he told himself, _"who knows what could happen if you blow our cover"_

This was easier said than done, and all he could do now was hope and pray that Eve could somehow pull this out.

"So have you two come to an agreement?" Kemo asked unaware of Tony's nervous dilemma.

Eve nodded as did Tony, though more slowly than her for he was merely trying to mirror her. Kemo sat on his haunches, regarding the two for he found it odd that they would fall silent.

"Well?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Oh!" Eve spat with a quick shake of her head, "yes Tony and I have come to terms."

"Are you okay?" the male of the Wind Talkers pressed suspiciously, "You seem hesitant, nervous."

Eve looked at Tony then back at the others.

"I'm fine, just a bit shaken up is all," she stated, speaking only half of a lie for she truly was traumatized.

The male Wind Talker squinted his left eye slightly and raised his right brow, tilting his head back at the smallest of angles as he tried to read Eve's thoughts through how she reacted. However, Eve was a fantastic liar and managed to keep a firm face, her eyes seeming vacant and lost. The Wind Talker studied her for a long moment then returned his face to normal, buying what Eve had said, though he knew that she wasn't being fully truthful with him; but that didn't matter. He was interested to see where this would lead.

"So what are you waiting for?" the female from the South asked, "on with it. We're running low on time here."

Eve took in a deep breath.

"Alright fine," Eve said slightly agitated, "after a long and rigorous discussion, Tony and I have come up with a system that we believe will help us all out."

Eve drew in a long breath and slowly exhaled, letting her shoulders relax.

"_This better work."_

"Tony and I have decided that it would be in the best interest of our two packs if we were to wed," she began, receiving an onslaught of muttering from the alphas and omegas that the two parties had brought to accompany them.

She shot them a glare, warning them to silence themselves, and then turned back to the others.

"Yes, we will then unite our packs under one name, Central Pack, and under this name we shall remain. No longer shall there be an Eastern or a Western Pack," she explained, "however; we request a postponement on the wedding until after we have apprehended Humphrey, for we have wasted far too much time as it is."

The other representatives considered, regarding the two from the East and West carefully.

"It is true that we have burned out almost an entire evening here," Kemo answered, "however, there is reason as to why we must remain hesitant to allow such a thing."

Eve and Tony could feel their stomachs drop to their paws and their hearts skip a beat.

"And why would that be?" Tony pressed firmly, for he thought that if he were to throw in his own two cents then it would somehow help out the situation.

"We are not sure if we can fully trust your new system," the male Wind Talker replied flatly, "it seems flawed and easily altered. How do we know that you will honor your agreement to wed when it comes due to pay your bill? And how is it that we would insure the integrity of the new Central Pack? How do you plan on making such a request of postponement valid? There is no law granting such an action to be taken. The packs must be united officially before we can operate."

Eve and Tony were crestfallen, though they did not show it through their features or body language. Everything about this plan was beginning to fall apart, and they knew this, knew that they were quite literally one false step away from being screwed royally. The representatives sent them incredulous looks, looks that could easily crack even the most trained agent into spilling his guts.

"What about a written contract?" Tony suggested desperately, receiving a relieved sigh from Eve, "One that clearly depicts the terms of this pact, and ensures its fidelity."

Kemo shook his head.

"There is no value in dirt," he said flatly, referring to what it was that they would inscribe the document in if they chose to write one, "and no circumstances that would ratify the changes."

Eve growled and Tony lowered his head, for the stubbornness of these wolves was really beginning to wear down on their patience.

"Well hell, what are we supposed to do then?" Eve asked impatiently, pricking her ears forward accusingly.

"The only way to ensure the unification of your packs through the use of marriage between you and Tony would be to bond, swear by blood that you will," the female Wind Talker said flatly.

Tony and Eve simultaneously cocked their heads to the side.

"Come again," Tony said with a raised brow, not entirely sure if he had heard correctly.

"Step forward," the female Wind Talker commanded.

Eve and tony shot each other concerned looks, the two of them still unsure on what to do.

"Step forward," the Wind Talker repeated, her male accomplice arriving at her side.

Eve and Tony reluctantly conceded and stepped forward to the Wind Talkers, still not sure what it meant to swear by blood for the term (if it comes to a surprise at all) was not something that they had familiarized themselves with and because of this a vast assortment of atrocious acts flooded into their minds. Were they supposed to kill somebody? Were they supposed to drink fermented blood? Were they supposed to slash their own throats like they had seen before on that magical device that some human had dropped that somehow portrayed miniaturized projections of humans inside of its thin box like shape?

"What's going on?" Kemo asked the two wolves from the Pass, but received no answer.

"Step back," the female commanded.

Kemo and the other representative from the South stepped back a ways, the two of them also oblivious to the meaning of what they were about to witness.

"What are they doing?" he asked to his accomplice, but only received a look of bewilderment.

Eve and Tony came to a stop in front of the two Wind Talkers, Eve in front of the female and Tony before the male, and cast each other nervous eyes.

"Wrists," the female ordered flatly.

Eve and tony didn't want to argue so they slowly lifted their right paws and extended them to the wolf in front of them with their pads facing up. Each of the Wind Talkers took a paw into theirs and studied the wrist for a second then did something that neither Eve nor Tony expected. With one quick slashing motion they cut a single laceration across their wrists, drawing a steady seepage of blood. Eve and Tony both reacted by trying to jerk their paws away, but they were held fast.

"What the hell was that for?" Eve demanded angrily, watching the blood drip from her wrist to the dirt below.

The Wind Talkers made no reply and simply held onto their paws then ran one of their pads over the cut, gathering a good amount of blood. Eve and Tony winced when the pads brushed their open wounds, but they didn't fight back. The Wind Talkers then placed the bloody pads on both Eve and Tony's chest, just in front of their shoulders, and drew a symbol that consisted of two backward facing curves with a line drawn diagonally through them from the top right to the bottom left, then drew a line that intersected the tops of the arcs adjacently and lengthened the bottom of the right curve, the final result looking like a capitol "J" with a capitol "Y" inside of its arc. Eve and Tony were both confused for they had never seen anything like this before, let alone have it actually done to them. All they could do was go with it at this point. When they finished drawing the symbol, the Wind Talkers placed their paws directly on the still bleeding wounds and held them there. Again Eve and Tony winced from the stinging sensation, but offered no physical or verbal protest. The Wind Talkers before them then looked them directly in the eyes.

"Repeat after me," they both instructed in perfect sync.

Eve and Tony both nodded.

"I, Evelyn, daughter of Adam and Nadia," the female began.

"I, Tony, son of Corbin and Genevieve," the male began at the same time as his female counterpart.

"I, Evelyn, daughter of Adam and Nadia," Eve repeated.

"I, Tony, son of Corbin and Genevieve," Tony repeated at the same time, the pair's voices in perfect sync.

"Do solemnly swear," the two Wind Talkers continued together.

"Do solemnly swear," Eve and Tony answered.

"Here under the witness of Jenimar and the Representatives of Allied Jasper," The Wind Talkers said.

"Here under the witness of Jenimar and the Representatives of Allied Jasper," Eve and Tony repeated.

"And under the jurisdiction of all Laws," the Wind Talkers continued.

"And under the jurisdiction of all Laws," Eve and Tony said together.

"That we will wed in holy matrimony."

"That we will wed in holy matrimony."

"In the purpose of the unification of the East and the West."

"In the purpose of the unification of the East and the West."

"Under the one name of Central Pack."

"Under the one name of Central Pack."

"And the reformation of the United Packs of Jasper."

"And the reformation of the United Packs of Jasper."

"And I will claim all responsibilities."

"And I will claim all responsibilities."

"Of preserving the constitutional values."

"Of preserving the constitutional values."

"In my pack."

"In my pack."

"So help me Jenimar," the Wind Talkers finished.

"So help me Jenimar," Eve and Tony finished and looked over at each other.

The Wind Talkers nodded and released Eve and Tony's paws then wiped their own paws clean in the dirt. Eve and Tony placed their paws on the ground, the blood that still flowed freely running down their legs and forming a small pool around their paws. Oh man did their wrists sting, and it was persistent, never failing to throb with each pulse of their hearts.

"You may go and wash your wounds if you wish," the female Wind Talker informed.

Eve and Tony nodded then turned and made their way toward Boarder Creek, but on the way Eve leaned in close to Tony and whispered in his ear.

"We are so screwed," she whispered urgently.

"I know," was Tony's slum reply, "you can't break a bond of that nature without the punishment of death."

By this time the pair made it to the creek and they both dipped their right paws into the cold water, wincing and watching as the liquid around their paws began to become mixed with a faded crimson color. They knew that the cold of the water would help to seal their wounds, and to help the situation further, they both applied a small amount of pressure over their cuts in order to cause the blood inside of the wound to become clotted, ultimately stopping the bleeding all together.

"So how is it that you plan on getting us out of this one?" Tony asked, his paws still in the water.

Eve sighed.

"I'm not," she replied glumly, "you said yourself what happens when you break an unbreakable bond."

Tony turned his head back to the other representatives then to Eve again.

"But you said that you could get us out of this," he accused, "That's why I even agreed to this in the first place."

Eve turned her head to Tony.

"I didn't expect that to happen," Eve retorted, "clearly they are more clever than we gave them credit for."

Tony shook his head.

"Well what did you expect?" he asked, his voice still a whisper, "you were trying to lie to Wind Talkers."

Eve flattened her ears and pulled her paws out of the water, releasing the pressure on her wrist, and then studied the wound, and when she was satisfied that it had sealed properly she set it down.

"I know," she replied with a sigh, "I don't know what I was thinking."

It was Tony's turn to sigh.

"Well, no use in arguing anymore," he said slowly, pulling his paws out of the water as well "if we're supposed to marry then I guess we should get on to it and make the best of it."

Eve shook her head slowly.

"I guess so," she replied resting her face on her paw for a brief second then placed it back on the ground with a slap, "but… gah this is so fucked up," she whined desperately, "I never wanted any of this to happen."

Tony shook his head slowly and lowered it down so his muzzle was level with his chest.

"Well, they're waiting for us," Tony inquired glumly and turned around to the other representatives.

Eve offered no reply and turned around as well, and then the two began to languidly make their way back to where the others congealed, for there was still one more thing that they needed to take care of. The two arrived wordlessly and sat down in their original places in the circle of representatives, casting jaded glances around the entire group.

"Next order of business," the female representative from the South said flatly, "when do you choose to wed?"

Eve and Tony looked over to each other with awkward looks. Sure they restored their friendship, but neither of them felt the sensation of love toward each other. Now they truly knew what it was that they had set up for Kate and Garth; now they understood just how wrong it was to force somebody into marriage.

"I guess… we could do it right now; get it out of the way and onto business," Eve mused flatly and turned to Tony as if looking for his consent.

"_This whole mess is all _his _fault," _Eve thought bitterly, growling as she remembered the reason why she was here in the first place.

God how she hoped that it was she who would catch him, for when she did he would suffer dearly for the mass of pain and trouble that he had caused; and what a slow suffering it would be, one drawn out over a course of hours, hell even days if he could last that long. She could only imagine how it would feel to sink her claws into his flesh, see the fear and the pain in his eyes as his bloody body was slowly ripped apart, she could almost hear the sweet sound of Humphrey screaming and pleading with her to end him now; but she knew that his pleads she would ignore.

Completely oblivious to Eve's dark thoughts, Tony only nodded nonchalantly, keeping his head held low in distain.

Seeing Tony's silent agreement, Eve pulled herself out of the depths of her mind, her flood of anger subsiding back into its banks, and turned to the front, looking over the wolves before her with a defeated gaze. She was just ready for this shit to be over with so she could get on with her newfound obsession, finding and destroying Humphrey.

"Very well," Kemo said and stepped back out of their circle, as did everybody else except for the male Wind Talker, of whom only rose to his feet and regarded the pair with attentive, golden eyes.

"You may begin the rituals whenever you wish," he informed monotonously.

Eve and Tony each cast each other awkward gazes and slowly turned around so that they were facing each other and their sides were facing the others.

"Soooo um, you… ready?" Tony asked slowly, for this really wasn't something that he wanted to do.

Eve looked around herself slowly, trying to bite back her bile.

"No," she answered flatly.

Tony only let out a meek and nervous breath before replying.

"Me neither."

This remark struck a chord in Eve that made the corners of her mouth lift into the slightest of grins, but that quickly faded away as the gravity of the situation centered itself upon her once again.

"Well… here we go," Eve mused weakly.

"Yes…" Tony replied with the same amount of enthusiasm.

The two each took one step forward and began to crane their bodies around each other, slowly moving their heads toward the other's backside. This action was completed whenever each of the two counterparts' noses reached the gland near the base of the other's tail, this gland being the one that gave each wolf its own distinct scent, and taking a small whiff. Eve did not enjoy Tony's scent in the least. To her it smelled like a combination of wet paper and the mud from a stagnant puddle. Of course, seeing as that these two shared no feelings for one another, this was to be expected. To Tony, Eve smelled like a mix between some sort of bitter tasting berry, the kind that leaves sappy shit all over you if you puncture it, and hot grass. As one could expect, this acceptance of the other's scent was more like a tolerance, but in the end it was done and the two gratefully pulled their heads up and away from the other. The next thing to be done was the nibbling on each other's ear. With long and excruciatingly slow motions, the two began to move their heads toward the side of the other's, Eve's head stopping parallel to the left side of Tony's face and his on the right of hers. Here they tilted their muzzles up to the other's ear and gently took it into their mouths then began to lightly chew on them. Again, this was something that Eve did not enjoy for this action caused her pain. Tony's teeth were rough and they caused her to feel a grinding sensation rather than a nibbling one, instantly rubbing her ear raw and making it feel very tender when something touched it. Also it seemed as though he could not control the rate at which he salivated, which caused her ear to become soaking wet on top of the raw feeling that it possessed. Eve was gentler with Tony's ear, taking it lightly in her teeth, and this caused him to smile lightly despite of himself, for it reminded him of when his former mate would message his ears. Finally, much to Eve's relief and Tony's disappointment, the two pulled apart from each other, releasing the other's ear and facing each other yet again. Finally would come the main moment in this ceremony, the point of bondage, and also, of no return for, as was Wolf Code, the act of mating was for life. In fact, the act of parting with a mate while the other still lived was considered one of the most disgraceful actions that any could commit, and any wolf that was caught seeing another wolf other than their mate received the Scar of Shame; this scar being a thick, diagonal slash across where their heart would be. And it was now time to cross that point, for it was time for the rubbing of the noses, the final seal in their courtship. With their eyes pinched tightly together, for it went against everything that their hearts desired, the two extended their noses toward each other, Eve pausing a short distance away from Tony's nose and keeping it there so that he could meet her with his. This he did a moment later, the cold, wet object lightly making contact with Eve's nose and for a moment neither one made any move at all, almost as though the contact of their noses had frozen them on the spot. Eve opened her eyes briefly to see what it was that was going on, but still Tony remained completely motionless. Eve did the only thing that she knew to do and slowly rubbed her nose against his. This action seemed to bring Tony back to life and he returned the gesture by moving his nose slowly from side to side. Unlike other wedding to pass, this marriage was one that went without celebration. Nobody in the congregation even said a word as the two separated from each other.

"Congratulations you two, you have just successfully united the East and the West," the male Wind Talker finally stated happily, though his expression still remained that of stone.

Still there was no celebration of any kind.

Eve felt sick to her stomach, almost as though someone had twisted it into the tightest knots that anybody could ever manage to twist and was then slowly trying to pull it out of her throat. She wanted to puke, but she couldn't, wanted to scream, but knew that it would only cause her trouble. The only thing that she knew to do now was just stand there, lost in a fog.

The other representatives and wolves from the East and West mingled together wordlessly and watched the two new mates as they just stood out there in the open together with blank gazes caused by distant eyes.

Finally Eve was able to find her tongue.

"It's done," she said flatly, her tone laced with moroseness.

Tony only nodded and turned around, walking away with no known direction in mind. Eve watched him go for a while and then she again found herself washed with anger. If Humphrey hadn't have killed Winston none of this would've ever happened. She would be happy in his embrace still, but no; now she was stuck with Tony for the rest of her life and it was all…

And then she smiled evilly when another thought hit her. Being courted to Tony now meant that she could begin the hunt for Humphrey. This thought caused Eve to become giddy with excitement, for she simply couldn't wait to bring him down.

* * *

><p>Kate and Humphrey continued to walk side by side through the long amber grass of the Dry Lands, the pair wrapped up in pleasant silence so they could simply enjoy the other's company. They walked with only a distance of maybe eight inches between them and every now and again they would drift closer and accidently bump hips with each other. Each time this action occurred the two would turn to face each other with a light blush crawling across their cheeks, and then would look away from each other and continue on. Humphrey still could not believe that this was happening. It was almost as though someone had walked right into his dreams, pulled them out of his subconscious, and made them reality. He would quickly glance over toward Kate with his eyes, keeping his head forward so she wouldn't notice his stare, and would watch the way her curved body swayed with each step she took. He would move his eyes further down and admire the way her tail swung freely with the rocking of her hips, and then would move them back again to her flawless face. It was on these occasions that Kate would finally feel his gaze and glance over to him with her eyes, only to find Humphrey moving his away guiltily. It would then be her turn to admire him. He was not well built like Garth, but it would appear as though their little adventure across America and Canada had put quite a substantial amount of muscle on his once meek body. She could see the well-defined flesh rolling beneath his fur and could not help but want to feel them, but she was afraid to ask for she was still finding it hard to believe that things were happening the way they were as well, though she did not know that Humphrey shared similar thoughts. She would then take notice of all of his cuts on his body and the log on his leg, obviously a brace, but for what purpose she did not know. She also wondered how it was that Humphrey could walk so well with it on him, almost as though he felt no pain whatsoever; and more importantly, how these things had happened to him in the first place. But these questions she would keep to herself for right now because she was certain that it was something that her friend did not wish to speak of. To take her mind off of these things she would go back to admiring Humphrey's body, trying to see through his cuts and imagine that they were not there. She would then move her eyes up to his face again and it would be then that she would catch Humphrey staring at her, and see him look away as though he wasn't looking at her.<p>

When the two walked together as they did right now they failed to take in the beauty of the land around them, the one and only thing that the Dry Lands actually possessed. It was late in the evening, the sun hovering just above the mountains in the far west, and the once yellow orb had since then turned a bright red, causing the sky and the thin clouds in it to become a unique burgundy and orange color, mixed with the most subtle hues of purples and indigos. These colors blended flawlessly in the sky and upon the grass around them, making the land seem to glow a faint purple color, and even now a small breeze took life in the cooling air, causing the mysterious span of land before them to seem alive. Their fur swayed slowly in the breeze, much like the grass in which they trekked, and their pawsteps were light, the pair of wolves neglecting to realize that they hadn't had a bite to eat or a drop of water since they first reunited with each other. But this would be realized a moment later when a sudden rumble from Humphrey's stomach broke them out of the hypnosis in which their minds were trapped.

"Getting hungry are we?" Kate teased him and came to a stop.

This caused Humphrey to blush slightly as he came to a stop beside her, but when a similar sound emitted from Kate, he smiled dubiously.

"It would appear that you're hungry too," Humphrey replied, making sure that Kate did not pass up on her turn to blush.

Kate smiled in a slight embarrassment and then smacked her lips with a dry tongue.

"Yeah, and to tell you the truth, I'm pretty thirsty too," she commented.

The mention of thirst suddenly made Humphrey's mouth dry out as well and he turned to Kate with an agreeing nod.

"Me too," he said to her and began to look around, but he could not see anything at all except the grass and the sun setting at their backs, "problem is, there's nothing here except all of this damn grass," he commented distastefully and swatted some of it with his paw.

Kate only nodded.

"Well, there can't be plants here without water of some sort," she observed, "so there's gotta be some around here somewhere. All we have to do is find it."

Humphrey nodded, finding logic in Kate's words; though he was doubtful of finding a water source due to the fact that this particular grass was as dry as the bones under his skin. However, he wasn't going to argue with her because he still feared her leaving him if he said the wrong thing, so he only asked her the obvious question.

"Well then, where should we look first?"

Kate pondered the question for a moment, observing her surroundings carefully. There wasn't a green plant to be found anywhere, no trees that she could see, and there were no grey clouds in the darkening sky above her.

"I'm not entirely sure," she answered regretfully, "but I think that we need to focus more on finding a place to sleep for the night," she stated matter-of-factly, "it'll be dark any minute."

Again Humphrey nodded, for she was one hundred percent right. They wouldn't have time to look for any right now anyway, because if they went out in search of it, it would get dark on them and they would be stuck having to look for a sleeping place in an unfamiliar territory in the dark. That was something that neither one of them particularly wanted to do, so they sucked it up and focused their attention away from food and water and more toward finding shelter, though they would keep their eyes open for some in the process.

"Alright then, let's get a move on," Kate stated and kept walking.

Humphrey nodded and again he fell in at her side, the two of them walking further and further into the Dry Lands in search of a decent shelter.

* * *

><p><strong>And now once again it is time to express how grateful I am to all of you who are reading my story, and I have special thanks for everybody who has gone the extra mile and left a review. Thanks guys, I can't begin to express how much I appreciate all of your praise and kind words. It has all really helped me along down the road to what I am now considering how poorly I started out when I first arrived on the sight. So again guys, thanks for all the support that you've given me and for the love that I hope you will continue to give me. Y'all truly are the best readers I could have ever asked for and I am truly honored to have your audience.<strong>


	15. Chapter 13: Brain Damage: Part 1

**Chapter 13 Brain Damage**

**Yes guys, I am alive! Please forgive me for my absence as of late; I know it has been far too long since I last updated, over six months now, and there really is no excuse for it. I could run off and say that I was busy, or that I had huge writer's block, but I can't lie to you. I've been lazy and I've been far too selfish with my time when I should have been devoting a fair amount of it to you. Bash me all you want, kick my teeth in, tell me how much of a bastard I am for abandoning y'all for this long, but please, if there are any of you out there who still remember this story, don't take my absence to heart.**

**Now for some announcements.**

**The original intent behind this chapter, was to post one really long chapter with an intermission in the middle, HOWEVER, that whole thing has been taking me forever to get down, so in order to get some updates out to you and to simplify the process, I have divided the chapter out into several, convenient places. Hopefully this will make sense.**

**Here is something that y'all may like. In honor of my loyal readers and reviewers, those whose names I know, anyway, your names will all be a part of this story, so look through the next chapter and through the rest of the story for your namesakes.**

**Also, I was informed by a good friend of mine on this archive that a few of my paragraphs were a bit too long and were kinda hard to follow as a result. As the author of this story, it is my duty to all of you to make this as enjoyable to read as possible so I have taken his word and have gone through and divided out the paragraphs in this chapter and will do the same for all of the rest to come. Now, as for suggestions, I am always open for more so if you have any, feel free to tell me via review or PM or however so that I may make this as enjoyable as possible for you guys, the ones most important to the story.**

**Chapter 13: Brain Damage: Part 1**

Murmuring, jumbled and unintelligible murmuring; that was all that could be heard amongst the group of wolves that had been gathered along Border Creek in what was now known as the Central Pack. There were forty-seven in all, but not all were on the same page at this point in time because, of these forty-seven lupus canines, fourteen already knew why they were all there; but as for the thirty-three others in attendance, they were completely clueless as to what was going on. Many rumors drifted through the crowd; rumors of war, of conspiracy, and of murder, and with so many different variables of occurrence, the apprehensions were high amongst all of whom had been called. To ensure that each pack would share equal strength within the union, each pack was only allowed to train ten alphas, and as was procedure, the host pack (or packs) of a meeting pertaining to this subject, was expected to conjure such a number while the packs of whom were guests in the territory would be visited ahead of time by the Wind Talkers and would choose four of their best alphas and one healer to be taken to the host pack. Now, since the East and the West had only just united, it was still required for them to send alphas from each of the former packs to avoid any confusion. The twenty from the East and West remained aloof of each other, even Candu and Flint, because the former listing was still unaware of the unification while the latter remained wary of their new allies due to their past reputation. The five wolves from White Pass interacted with everybody, something that was common amongst their pack; but the Northern Guard was tight lipped and possessed very little taste for large groups, and since they had been away from their packs for so long, they had since abolished their dependence upon it, and therefore, old friends had been forgotten. It may sound quite tragic that this should be the case, but once you're in the Guard, your friend is the wolf watching your back, not the empty faces that you left behind.

They awaited the arrival of seven more wolves, and then such a number would push their population up to seventy-four, but that information was irrelevant to those already in attendance. All that they were concerned about was why it was that they were there. However, their questions would not linger unanswered for very much longer, for a mere five minutes later, there was a flapping sound followed by the appearance of the two Wind Talkers. There was a brief pause after their arrival which was followed shortly thereafter by the appearance of five other wolves, those wolves being the five that had been selected from the South. It was not uncommon, however, for many, if not all of the new arrivals to become sick just as soon as their form regained physicality, for the sheer power behind their travel was far greater than their mortal capacity of tolerance; and for the new arrivals from the South, the situation was no different. Just as soon as their presence became tangible, they fell to their knees with their heads hung low, spitting saliva from their mouths which would very soon afterward yield to putrid volleys of vomit. The Wind Talkers left them to their illness, knowing that they would eventually recover, and made their way through the group, of whom gave them passage as the Red Sea had done for Moses, as they ventured forth to where the other diplomats waited. It would seem odd that not even one of the high Alphas from each of the representative packs would be present at such a meeting, but there was no need, for their representative council was of the packs' most trusted members of their political base; of course the threat of death under word of corruption was always helpful to keep said representatives honest toward the constitutional values of the Union, but that is all beside the point. What was most important was that the words that flowed from their mouths were words that had at some point come directly from their leaders' mouths, and as such, the High Alphas' words were expressed slightly less than vicariously to the others.

The two Wind Talkers took their places beside Eve, Tony, and the representatives from the South, addressing the congregation with thoughtful gazes that passed slowly over each and every individual present, even taking into regard the five that had been elected from the South, of whom it seemed were finally beginning to regain control of their stomachs.

"You may get a drink if you wish," the female stated to them, any flicker of emotion completely absent from her voice.

The four alphas and the healer turned their heads up to them, using the sides of their paws to wipe the bile from their lips, and nodded appreciatively, rising unsteadily still to their paws and staggering toward the small creek as a drunkard would stagger home from the bar, disposed and weakened by their illness. Many eyes fixed upon them as they stepped forward to the creek, dipping their muzzles to the water and lapping at the cold water greedily with their broad, pink tongues, swishing it about in their mouths and spitting it out beside them or swallowing it intermittently, but those eyes rapidly lost interest and once again flashed over to those who stood in the center of their immediate attention. Eve, Tony, Kemo, the two Wind Talkers, and the final representative from the South now stood in a line before them, regarding them inquisitively with hard, tireless eyes.

"Welcome, friends," the male Wind Talker greeted, immediately drawing the attention of those who were voraciously imbibing the cold, clean water of Boarder Creek, "I would like to start by thanking all of you for coming out here on such short notice." A pause as he ran his attentive eyes over the entirety of the congregation and then, "I know that for some of you this journey was not the easiest one to make, but I cannot stress enough to all of you the importance of this meeting."

There were only a few curt nods in reply from the gathering, but other than that, there was not a sound from earlier boisterous crowd. Taking this silence as his cue to continue, the Wind Talker from White Pass turned his attention to Eve, regarding her briefly before averting his attention back to the crowd and continuing.

"It has come to the attention of the Union that as of today, merely a matter of hours ago, the leader of the West, Winston, was murdered by a member of his own pack."

This revelation immediately evoked muttering amongst the group, most of which came from those who were only just receiving the news while the rest of it belonged to those who already knew and were trying to explain to them what tragic events had transpired in the former moments of the evening. However, these mutterings were silenced promptly by the slow rise of the Wind Talker's paw and all eyes once again fell upon him, only this time, they were filled with many different breeds of emotion, but most prevalent amongst the emotional spectrum were anger, sadness, and spite.

"Now, friends, I know that this is hard for you to take in, but-"

"So, let's go get the son of a bitch," a male voice interposed, being backed immediately by outbursts of agreement from a few others in the group.

The Wind Talker scowled at them and opened his mouth to speak again, but was once again interrupted.

"I'm sorry to interject, sir," a female voice called from the center of the group as she pushed her way through the crowd, "but before we think to continue I think we must all first understand what it is that we are dealing with."

There was no answer from the Wind Talker, but the brown furred male, being the bigot that he was, would not stand to be ridiculed by a female, and therefore, was hasty in his reply.

"And just what is it that you would know about it?" he demanded punitively, drawing the attention of the crowd to himself.

"Amina is the most prestigious medical expert that I have ever seen," Eve backed for her healer, "and if she has something to tell you you'd better damn well listen to her or you won't have any ears left to hear with, got it?"

The male growled under his breath, his temper building under his skin though he did well to hide it, and turned away from Eve, muttering a silent curse under his breath. The Wind Talker dismissed the situation and turned to Amina with quizzical eyes.

"You said that we must truly understand what we are dealing with," he inquired, pinning his ears to the side.

Amina nodded.

"So please tell us all."

Amina looked about herself, having always hated being put on the spot, but she knew that she could not back out now. She took in a deep breath.

"Humphrey, the omega who we seek, has recently demonstrated behaviors of a paranoid schizophrenic," she informed, "his perceptions of reality do not correspond with the reality of the world and because of this he is highly unpredictable and therefore is highly dangerous." She paused. "Do not think him weak and do not underestimate him."

For some, the warning struck hard, but for others, it merely fell upon deaf ears. After all, how could an omega possibly be a danger to them, especially when said omega couldn't even tell reality from his own twisted imagination?

"'The omega who we seek' is not a very discontenting bit of information," the brown bigot rebuffed defiantly, "I mean come on guys, what is the worst that he could do? It's-"

"Do you really want to know?" Amina interjected, intercepting his speech before he could continue further.

All eyes again turned to the brown wolf, but he offered no verbal reply, so they fixed themselves upon the healer again.

Amina seized the opportunity and continued.

"Humphrey is quite possibly one of the smartest wolves to have ever been born," she informed, not only to the bigot, but to all who cared to listen, "since the day he could speak, he could outwit anybody, including the older members of the pack. He could talk himself out of or manipulate any situation so that it would eventually work in his favor. When he was a month old, he could deduce patterns in the herds of caribou, patterns that we could have desperately used to help prevent us from over hunting, but unfortunately he wanted nothing to do with the alpha life-style. He stopped studying them and spent more time with his friends, so these patterns he eventually forgot, as did we."

"So?" the brown wolf demanded, "what does intelligence have to do with anything? The bastard is insane according to you, so what makes you think that intellectual thoughts could even come remotely close to comprehension in his mind?"

"Winston was only the second of Humphrey's dupes," she replied, "but his death may have only been accidental." She paused and met his eyes. "The first fatality was one of our top graduates from Alpha school," she continued, "sixth in his class, meaning that he was only one slot away from being one of our alphas in the Guard, and the fact that he overpowered and killed him, my friend, is worth taking extra heed to before going out and blindly trying to find him."

The brown wolf wanted to hear no more of this, for he had been ridiculed one to many times today by this female, so he finally silenced himself, mingling once again into the masses.

The Wind Talker turned to Amina.

"The laws are very clear," he told her, "Humphrey must be neutralized, not just for the death of your leader, but for the safety of others as well."

Though it hurt her, Amina nodded, having already known that this was going to happen. She would not argue though, for she knew that, in the end, what they were doing would turn out to be a mercy for her friend.

"Then I will ask no further questions," he said, stepping down so that Eve may take the podium.

The two passed each other wordlessly, without even a sidelong glance to each other.

Eve stood over the group now with vengeful eyes.

"Those who arrived from the South, the Northern Guard and White Pass under transport of the Wind Talkers, step forward."

The fifteen who fell into that category slowly pushed their way through the group and lined up wordlessly a few feet before the Western Alpha.

"You have all been briefed and assigned positions, correct?" Eve inquired.

They all nodded.

"Squad leaders step forward."

Two brown wolves, one a more tannish color than the other, and a black wolf, substantially larger than the others, stepped forward.

"Name."

"Jason," the darker of the two browns stated.

Eve nodded and turned her eyes to the black wolf.

"Ian," he said authoritatively.

And finally, Eve's eyes fell upon the lighter wolf.

"Dakoda," she answered.

"Good," she told them and looked to her right. "Tony, have you chosen your squad?"

Tony nodded.

"Garth, Remington, Mason, Syd, and Gilmour, step forward."

All five wolves weaved their way through the crowd and stopped before Tony.

"Garth, you lead them."

Garth only nodded curtly.

Only five more were needed now to be a full set and she turned to her pack.

"Candu, Flint, Roger, Amina, you're all coming with me."

They began to take formation before her, but a question from the female of the Wind Talkers made them hesitate.

"If you are going with them, who will lead your pack?"

Eve turned to her.

"We have united with the East," she answered matter-of-factly, "I think that Tony can handle it, can't you honey?" she asked sarcastically, incredulous venom dripping from her every word.

Tony sighed.

"Yes, I can handle it," he answered, though with a noticeable amount of hesitation, "I'll have my high Beta keep an eye out for your pack while you are gone."

Eve smiled.

"Thank you, Tony," she thanked sweetly.

Tony only nodded once and then turned away, wondering if one omega was truly worth the trouble that they were getting themselves into. Winston was one of his best friends, but wasn't the unification of the East and the West supposed to be all about forgiveness? Yes, Winston's death deserved justice, but he felt as though this were deeper than that; but he would never try to stand in Eve's way, for he valued his life more than he valued the life of some omega that he scarcely knew. Though he knew that Humphrey's death would eat at his conscience for probably the rest of his life, making him feel as though he were a coward for not standing up for what he believed in, but the law was clear and the decision had been made. There was no way to change that now. He would just have to pray and beg for forgiveness that he knew he did not deserve.

"The boarders have been sealed," Eve informed to the squads, allowing a malice and excited smile to crawl across her lips, "he's in here somewhere, now all we have to do is flush him out."

Everybody nodded, waiting expectantly for the hunt to begin.

"Former Western wolves return home," Eve ordered, "your business is finished here."

Those who were not assigned to her party turned obediently to leave, disappearing wordlessly into the trees. She followed them with her eyes until they were no longer visible and then turned back to Tony, nodding curtly one time.

"Former Eastern wolves, same," he ordered, though more hesitantly than his new, compulsory mate.

Like those from the West, the five alphas that were not assigned to the squads turned and walked away without a single glance or even a whisper. Everybody watched them go this time, now being left with only Eve, her squad, Garth, his team, Tony, the two Wind Talkers, and those from the South, White Pass, and the Northern Guard. For a long moment, nobody uttered a word and the silence across the territory became absolute.

"Perhaps… introductions are in order?" a blonde coated female began hesitantly, but Eve turned to her.

"We don't have time for that," she stated firmly, determination beginning to overtake her body, "let's get a move on. I want to be home in time for supper."

They all nodded.

"Best of luck to you and all of your future endeavors," the female Wind Talker said, being backed up by only a single nod from her male counterpart before they both disappeared silently into the wind.

Everybody stared at the spot in which they had recently stood for a moment and then they all turned to face each other again. Tony shifted nervously on his paws, taking an interest in the dirt beneath them and folded his ears onto his skull.

"We'll be in and out of here before you know it," Eve said to him, "and when that time comes, we will find a way to make… well… this all work."

Tony nodded wordlessly, failing to make eye contact and Eve nodded as well then turned to those who had all been elected for the posse.

"Alright, let's get a move on," she ordered loudly, "I want him found before night fall!"

Everybody nodded and the five groups began to dispatch, though the four remaining leaders and Amina still remained.

"What shall we do?" Jason asked her.

"When either one of you find him, send out a howl and we'll all come find you," she answered and began to turn off in the direction in which her team had dispersed, but she was hindered by another question.

"What shall we do with him when we find him?" Ian, the large, black leader from the Northern Guard asked, his voice naturally hoarse.

Eve ran her eyes over all of them, boring an icy glare into each and every one.

"If he gives you no other choice, kill him on the spot," she answered menacingly, "but if it is at all possible, bring him to me alive. I want to hear him scream," she seethed, "I want to hear him beg me to kill him."

Everybody nodded, those who had no previous affiliations with Humphrey, anyway, and they all began to move quickly away, heading off to rejoin their teams in order to relay Eve's orders; but even now, one wolf remained and Eve sighed.

"Amina, I know Humphrey means a lot to you, but this must be done," Eve told her empathetically.

There was no answer from her, only an aversion of her eyes.

Again Eve sighed, though deeper this time.

"Just as soon as we find him, you may leave if you wish," she told her, "you shouldn't have to see your friend die."

Amina only nodded dejectedly, biting back the bitter words that boiled on the tip of her tongue, but she would never speak the words that beat against her throat, for she knew better than to speak out when it was not her place to do so.

Eve gently laid a paw onto her shoulder.

"Now come on," she said, "let's get a move on."

* * *

><p>Humphrey's scent was almost impossible to miss, as Garth was able to deduce, being one of the few who actually knew what he smelled like, having met him before. Garth did not know how he felt about this whole situation. He did not like Humphrey one bit when he had first met him, hated the fact that the scrawny omega had the audacity to throw his nose in a place where it didn't belong when he tried to interpose between Kate and himself, but now that he truly thought about it, had it not been for Humphrey, he may not have ever met Lilly. He would have been forced to marry Kate, which was something that he previously had no issue with, seeing as that he had no previous engagements in his own pack. He had never met her before in his life, but when he first laid eyes on her, she was far more than he had ever anticipated and getting under her tail was one of the first thoughts that crossed his mind, not what the result of their marriage would be. He could assume that since Humphrey had disappeared at the same time as she did, he would have had something to do with it, though he did not know entirely how that whole situation played out. Had Humphrey not managed to get the two of them captured, he would have never spent time with Lilly, but in a sense, he wished that he had never gotten that time, because his love for her was now undying and it drove him mad for he knew that this love would forever be in vain. Alphas and omegas could not mate. Period. End of debate. There was no changing that law, not without completely rewriting the decrees set forward in the beginning of time. He would try to force her adorable personality from his memory, her beautiful, lavender eyes, smooth, innocent face, her angelic howl, but no matter how he tried, each time he laid his head down at night, he would drift away into beautiful, yet saddening dreams about that magical day that they had shared together.<p>

This angered him to no end, forcing him to begin to see red, and eventually he flushed all pleasant thoughts away from his mind and allowed it to be overwhelmed by thoughts of irrational blame and indignation. He blamed Humphrey for everything, for meeting Lilly, for the death of Kate, for every molecule of trouble that plagued his mind and the more that he thought about it, the more that he concluded that he would not mind killing the bastard himself; but his orders were explicitly clear. If possible, apprehend the fugitive alive and take him to Eve, but she never specified how alive she wanted him. On the verge of death sounded pretty good to him at the moment and now, as he ran before his team, perceptively hot on the omega's trail, he shivered with anticipation, just dying to feel his claws tear through Humphrey's skin, to see the fear in his maniacal eyes, to hear him scream as he ripped the limbs from his body. The feelings were not mutual amongst the group, though. For them, there was nothing personal about this. It was just business as usual and they were merely following orders. They wanted justice to be done upon the omega, but they had no private affairs with him, so they were perfectly content with letting Eve do the dirty work, especially if it meant they would not have to get blood on their paws.

* * *

><p>In the Southern Legion, the trail had grown cold, but only briefly, for Nick, the team's assigned advisor, was keen to every detail of his surroundings, finding that the omega had backtracked, making certain to keep himself on the exact same path that he had taken, and then found the invisible fork where he had broken off to the right and headed toward the border. Jason smiled, knowing that very soon they would be hearing a howl from the guards that surrounded its entirety, the howl that signified that there was somebody attempting to leave, though as of yet they were unaware of the hunt in progress. As far as they were concerned, they would just be doing their jobs. Some alphas would come, apprehend the attempted runaway, and that would be that; but little did Jason know, that howl would never rise.<p>

* * *

><p>Eve and her group were growing hotter on the trail as well, making quick work of picking around all of the scents that had been left behind by so many other wolves and creatures of the wild. She was overwhelmed with both excitement and anger, and the two of these emotions combined provided for her an inexplicable amount of adrenaline. She could feel her endorphins rising in her veins with each step that she took, felt almost as though she would explode with anticipation, for, as was for the first time in her entire life, she could not wait to see Humphrey again. She debated the many ways that she could kill him and this only added to her exhilaration, for the thought of his blood staining the ground and his pained cries piercing into her ears was candy to her eyes and music to her ears.<p>

* * *

><p>In the squad from White Pass, silence had fallen amongst them.<p>

"He's here somewhere," Dakoda whispered to her team, crouching low and silently gesturing for them to do so as well.

The four others in her legion crouched, tensing their bodies, for they knew that this omega would more than likely not go down without a fight, though they did not know exactly what kind yet.

Though nobody knew it, every group was heading to the exact same place at nearly the exact same time and all had grown eerily silent for the border guards. There was not a chirp from a bird, or chatter from a squirrel, not even a flutter of a breeze. Gary had not stuck around, returning to his post and thus leaving the two battle-hardened alphas alone with their thoughts.

"I don't like it," the dark grey wolf said to his partner, "something big is going down. I know it. I can smell it in the air."

The red wolf standing beside him only nodded in acknowledgement, rolling his shoulders in boredom.

"Story of our lives though, eh," he mused after a brief pause, "something big always happens when we're never around to see it."

The grey wolf scoffed sarcastically and then there was a snap of a twig, bringing them once again to their fullest attention, their ears erect and opened on the top of their heads and their eyes flashing about rapidly.

"Guss," the grey wolf said softly, "you stay here and watch my back. I'm gonna go check it out."

Guss offered no resistance. He only nodded curtly one time and then his friend turned away from him, moving with his body crouched, his tail erect, and his eyes feverishly scanning the surrounding area. He became wised up to a scent that he did not recognize and he stopped, crouching low, sweeping his surroundings slowly with his eyes, ears, and nose. Off to his right, there was a rustle in the bushes and he turned to it, lifting his upper lip all the way to the roots of his large, sharp fangs. He allowed a growl to rumble deep in the bottom of his throat and the fur along his spine stood on its ends.

"Show yourself!" he demanded, knowing that whomever it was that was there was only on the other side of the shrubs.

"Shut up!" a deep voice demanded in a firm, but low tone from somewhere beyond the bush.

The grey wolf growled, readying himself for attack whenever he saw the bushes begin to rustle, but he silenced himself when a large, black wolf with piercing, emerald eyes stepped forward into his view.

"We are here to apprehend a dangerous fugitive," the black wolf informed sternly during the grey wolf's initial shock, "so it would be highly beneficial if you would keep your mouth shut and let us do our job. Kapeesh?"

The grey wolf nodded, locking his jaw.

"And just who might this fugitive be?" he asked flatly.

"That is for me to know, and is no concern of yours," the black wolf replied sternly, "now stand aside and quit wasting our time."

"Is there a problem, Ian?" a voice said from beside the two, causing everybody to turn toward the owner, finding it to be none other than Eve, her group emerging from a bush behind her.

"No ma'am, just straightening a few things out with shitstick over there," he answered, gesturing to the grey wolf with a sideways jerk of his head.

Said wolf growled at the insult, but silenced himself quickly, for he could recall the first and last time he had been in the same general vicinity as Eve, and he knew better than to run fowl of her, lest he wanted his eyes shoved down his throat.

"Hindering your progress?"

"No, just doing my job," the grey wolf replied quickly before Ian could, receiving glares from everybody, and he quickly threw in, "ma'am."

Eve rolled her eyes.

"What job is that? Aiding in the escape of a wanted man?" she asked pointedly.

"No, border patrol," he answered under firm eyes from all who had gathered, including those who were just now arriving from various places around them, "Guss and I," he began casting a desperate look to his partner, of whom had begun to saunter his way cautiously toward them, eying the ceaseless newcomers apprehensively, "are in charge of this sector." He began to grow uneasy, for he and Guss had so carelessly allowed somebody out a few minutes ago, and had it been the one that they were looking for, he knew that he and Guss would be in some serious trouble. "W- we were not aware that you would be granted permission to be on our lands, so I stuck to protocol and engaged Goliath over there, began to question him."

Eve nodded under the watchful gaze of her gathered counterparts.

"And have you anything to report?" she asked flatly.

"All has been quiet save a slight altercation we had earlier with a loud mouthed omega," Guss answered, stepping in tentatively beside his partner.

The grey wolf could feel his heart beginning to beat faster and felt his body begin to perspire beneath his fur, for the further the situation developed, the more of a crushing feeling he felt beginning to overcome him.

Eve perked her ears with interest.

"Loud mouthed omega?" she asked intrigued.

"Yeah, came waltzing up here pretending to be one of your High Command," he answered dismissively.

Eve squinted an eye and nodded curtly, turning her gaze between both Guss and his partner.

"Description?"

Guss had to think for a moment.

"Uh… meek, light to dark grey fur, blue eyes," he began, noticing that Eve's eyes brightened noticeably with each detail that he gave, "cuts all over his body like he got into a fight or into a really bad accident, which could explain the log cast on his foreleg, though I can't recall which at the moment."

Eve smiled.

"Sounds like our omega," she mused, "care to tell me what you did with him?" she asked hopefully.

Guss opened his mouth to speak, but his friend beat him to it.

"We- we let him pass," he answered tentatively.

Eve's face dropped into a dark scowl.

"You what!" she demanded, causing the two of them to flinch.

They didn't answer, were too scared to move, or hardly even breathe at the moment, for Eve's scowl had turned into an icy glare, one which spoke of death and caused them to shrink inside of themselves.

Finally, Guss mustered up the courage to speak, though his voice was almost a whisper.

"I-I'm sorry, ma'am," he began weakly, "we just-"

"Sorry!" Eve interjected violently, "you let a wanted fugitive just mosey on past you and that's all you can say is that you're sorry! If you were my alphas I'd string you from the nearest tree!"

Garth stepped forward.

"Eve, please," he interposed, getting between the two, his face portraying control and dominance but beneath his deceptive smoke and mirror act, his body shook violently, "allow me to handle this."

Eve reluctantly coincided and calmed down, though she still bored a deathly glare into the two in question.

Garth took a deep breath, relieved that she had listened to him, and turned to them.

"Where did he go?" he asked firmly, though his tone was far calmer than Eve's.

Guss and his friend turned to each other timidly, silently begging the other to answer the question.

"Where did he go?" Garth demanded again, stepping toward them threateningly.

"He- he insisted on going out onto the Dry Lands," Guss stammered, his body shaking about as much as his voice.

"W- we knew that he wouldn't survive out there anyway, so we simply let him through," his grey friend finished, causing Garth's eyes to shift from Guss to him.

Eve growled lightly.

"You severely underestimated him," Eve seethed.

"Underestimated?" Guss retorted, taking a bold step forward, "He's just an omega. How could he-"

"Shut up!" Eve snapped, "You're lucky to still be breathing right now. Don't test me."

Guss found it wise to abide by Eve's demands and shut his mouth, stepping back a short distance and thus returning to his original position beside his friend.

Garth turned apprehensive eyes between his two guards and Eve for a moment and then sighed.

"How long?" he asked exasperatedly, though with an inconceivable, yet well masked amount of impatience.

Guss and his grey friend turned toward each other for a brief moment and then forward once again to their superior.

"About twenty minutes," Guss replied, "thirty tops."

From behind him, Garth could hear Eve's teeth click together and could only guess what vile thoughts were running through that disturbed mind of hers.

Garth dismissed this from his forethoughts and nodded slowly.

"Alright," he began, "run to the next post and give the all clear then report back to the dens. Tell my father to strip your ranks until next summer then get some sleep. Dismissed."

They both nodded and ran quickly off, making sure to give Eve a wide birth as they passed. Garth and company watched the two of them disappear and then turned his attention to Eve once again, finding her to finally be calming down.

"Well, what are we all standing around for?" Eve asked, running her eyes over all who had gathered, "let's get a move on."

"Do you think it is wise?" a slate grey wolf from the South asked hesitantly.

Eve turned to him with a look of indifference evident in her eyes.

"Do you have something to say, son?" she asked him incredulously.

All eyes now turned to the afore spoken wolf and every one of those eyes he met, though most connections were made indiscreetly.

"You know as well as I do what the Dry Lands possess," he stated matter-of-factly, "there is no food, no water, no shelter to speak of, there are no medical remedies out there, there is nothing, and it stretches on for miles, a ten day trek at the minimum. We are not prepared to make such a journey. We need to spend this night gathering supplies, planning, pr-"

"And all the while, Humphrey continues to slip further and further from us," Eve interrupted, "if we were to leave now, we could find him and be home before noon tomorrow."

"Eve, if I may interject," Jason, the Southern Squad Leader began, gaining Eve's attention, "Nick is my team's advisor as Candu is yours, and I trust his judgment. Who's to say that the omega will even stop tonight? You said he was clever. He'll know we'll be hunting him. He will use anything he can find, any trick he can think of, any ace that he has up his sleeve to hinder our progress or to lead us astray. We need more time to plan."

Eve seethed and locked her jaw, for she knew that he was right. If they were to go out now and they failed to find him tonight, they would be stuck out there. Once they started searching, they would not have time to turn around, go home and regroup, and the last thing any of them wanted was to starve to death out there, so she eventually caved.

"Alright," she said exasperatedly, "Everybody to the Eastern Dens," she ordered, "we will conclude this matter there."


	16. Brain Damage Part 2

**Just to make things clear, I am still not finished with all parts of the chapter, so that would explain why this is shorter than the 24k that the original piece was.**

**Here's part 2**

**Brain Damage Part 2**

Only the very tip of the sun still peeked over the horizon, but very soon it would plummet beneath the curve of the earth and it would take with it whatever pallid light still remained in the Dry Lands. Under the fading light, a pair of wolves sauntered through the thick grass, using their forepaws to shove the offensive blades downward or sweep them aside so as to prevent them from tickling their noses or slapping their faces. They were beginning to grow rather irritated, for they had spent the last hour and a half searching for anything at all that they could use for shelter, but like Humphrey had pointed out earlier that day, all that there was to be seen was grass, dead, dry, agitating grass. They were exhausted, but would have no place to stay, they were hungry, but there was no food to tame their growling stomachs, and they were thirsty, but they had no water to quench their parched mouths. The shelter, in truth, was not really a necessity, because they were wolves after all- if they had to they could go without it; but water was life, and in a place as barren and unforgiving as this, it was literally syphoned right out of their bodies through their sweat, their secretions, and their breaths. They needed water quick; food could be gone without for a few weeks if necessary, but they would struggle to last even another day if the course of their dehydration continued as it did now. The silence had droned on far too long for Humphrey's liking so he turned to Kate, searching for any way at all to break the silence.

"Any ideas?" he asked her slowly.

Kate growled under her breath and stomped her forepaw into the ground then turned to him.

"Ya know what Humphrey, why don't you actually help me rather than ask me over and over again if I've figured anything out," Kate demanded sharply, "I mean how many times do I have to hear 'Any ideas? What's the plan Kate? Have anything?'" She deepened her voice when she said those cutting words, doing her best to mock Humphrey's voice.

Humphrey folded his ears back onto the top of his skull.

"Don't take that from her. You don't deserve that kind of scrutiny."

"Quiet," Humphrey demanded firmly, "just keep out of this."

There was only the briefest of pauses between Kate's harsh words and his reply.

"I'm sorry Kate," he mumbled pathetically, turning his eyes down to his paws and shuffling them contritely.

Kate felt her embitterment quickly subside and she dropped her ears as well.

"I am too," she apologized, "you didn't deserve that."

Humphrey nodded, lifting his eyes again.

"It's alright Kate," he condoled, "I'm not mad."

Kate allowed a meager smiled to tug at the corners of her mouth and Humphrey mirrored it with a weak grin of his own.

"Well, come on," Kate said to Humphrey, nudging his shoulder and then turning herself around, "let's keep moving."

Humphrey nodded and fell in at her side, but it was very little known to them that they were not alone on the plain. A pair of large, yellow eyes watched them inquisitively from a perch on a rock, studying them, curious toward their presence, for it was not often that wolves, or any animals for that matter, should venture forth into his home. The eyes followed them until they lost sight of them and then the owner spread its wings and lifted itself into the air, hovering high above them.

Kate's alpha ears were able to detect the movement and she looked up into the air just in time to see a large, grey owl float over top of them and then begin to circle slowly about their area of position. Kate gained Humphrey's attention and pointed the owl out to him, but once he looked up to it, he had only enough time to watch it bank and then float effortlessly away into the distance, disappearing quickly into the fading light.

"Too bad we can't fly," Humphrey mused to Kate.

Kate smiled.

"No kidding," she answered, "I've never eaten owl before, but right now I could even eat berries I'm so hungry."

Humphrey caught onto the implied mockery that Kate had implied in her previous statement and he rolled his eyes playfully, letting a mischievous smile crawl onto his face.

"Hey, can't blame me for being hungry," he rebuffed with a provocative grin, "after all, it wasn't my job to provide food for the packs."

Kate nodded slowly, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"Touché," she said in defeat.

Humphrey smirked victoriously, and in response to this, Kate bopped the top of his nose playfully with her paw, causing Humphrey to sneeze, and this in turn caused Kate to giggle.

"Man, Kate, I hate it when you do that," Humphrey mused with teary eyes, sniffing his nose indignantly.

Kate chuckled and turned her body forward once again, continuing wordlessly on her way. Humphrey lifted his head and bounded after her, arriving at her side where he returned to a normal gait, though now that his body was beginning to fatigue, he could feel his injuries beginning to catch up with him. The cuts on his body were tolerable, but his broken leg on the other hand was proving itself to be quite bothersome. His leg itched unceasingly beneath his log cast and he could feel dull twinges in his muscles if he turned or set it down the wrong way. He knew that the pain would only grow worse with the passage of time, but he would have to suck up the pain if he were to make it out alive. He thought back to an American leaflet that he had found on the ground one day with a motto that was written in broken white letters, such a motto stating that "Pain is weakness leaving the body." He had never thought too much about that slogan until now, but given the circumstances, the saying made perfect sense. To show pain was to show weakness and to feel pain was to build mental strength if you were able to cope with the physical impairments that your mind told you to feel. He figured that if he could just his mind over matter, he would get through this just fine.

Kate, once again, noticed him beginning to zone out and she called his attention back to earth.

"Humphrey are you alright?" she asked him worriedly.

Humphrey continued to walk, but turned to her,

"I'm fine," he answered, "my leg just hurts a little is all."

Kate's face became empathetic.

"If you need to stop just tell me," she said to him, "because I don't want to hurt you any worse."

Humphrey shook his head slowly from side to side.

"Nah Kate, I can manage," he reassured, casting her an assuring smile.

Kate cocked her head to the side, still apprehensive about the severity of his condition.

"Are you sure?" she asked him one final time.

Humphrey smiled.

"Does this look unsure to you?" he asked her confidently, allowing his smile to broaden across his features.

Kate sighed.

"Alright, if you say so," she relented, "but just tell me if you need to slow down, okay?"

Humphrey nodded to humor her affairs and turned his head forward once again, staring uncaringly out at the pair at the pair of long shadows that stretched out to the distance before them, said shadows growing ever thinner until finally, the sun dipped out of sight and the sky began to fade from its brilliant array of reds, yellows, and oranges into a more ominous assortment of blues, indigos, and blacks. With this change in light, came the slow dilation of the pair's pupils as their bodies naturally attempted to cope with the ever increasing impairment of their vision due to the absence of adequate lighting. They were nearly out of time, but in the distance, they saw something that provided them with at least a slight quantity of comfort, something that gave them hope that they really were going to make it. A small tree grew alone out on the plain, pushing up out of the ground and reaching but six or seven feet into the air. Though its branches were generally dead, the tree still possessed but the tinniest flicker of life. Mixed into the farthest group of branches on its right side, was one branch in particular that still survived, for the tree itself was a living thing; though a living thing without heart or soul, it still possessed that of which all living things possessed, and that was an indomitable will to live. It was a rather humbling sight to see this tree and it brought a smile to Humphrey's scarred face.

"Look Kate," Humphrey said to his female accompaniment, using his paw to direct her eyes to the tree.

Kate studied the little tree and she smiled as she ran her eyes over its seemingly feeble existence, amazed that such a thing was able to still cling to life in such a place as this. She felt compelled to admire it up close, so she altered her directional track slightly to the left, padding over toward the tree. Humphrey in turn followed her, arriving wordlessly by her side and the two escorted each other toward the tree. It was a thin and meek piece of work really, the trunk of the tree being only about at thick as the circumference of a baby's head with sparse branches being that of its limbs. The ground about the base of the tree was peculiar as well, for the grass seemed to grow shorter around it, almost as though somebody or something were maintaining it; but that was impossible because there was nobody out here but them and maybe that owl they had seen earlier, but they knew that it couldn't possibly do something like this. Though they could not understand why, they came to the conclusion that the grass was short for the same reason that the tree still lived; but still that reason remained unclear to them. They knew that there had to be water around the tree somewhere, for that was the only logical explanation of the tree remaining, but somehow the desired liquid remained aloof. For all they knew, the water could have been there recently and had dried up already, which could be why the tree was in the state that it was. Should they really waste their time searching for something that they did not know was even there? It did seem almost pointless.

Having finally seen all that he wanted to see, Humphrey cast a glance off into the distance.

"Come on Kate," he said to his companion, "there's nothing here. Let's keep moving."

Kate was hesitant, almost as though she were entranced by the tree, but with another call from Humphrey, of whom was now about ten yards away, she shook herself free and turned away from the alluring tree and padded off after Humphrey, following through his trail of compacted grass until she was directly behind him and then split the trail once again as she fell in at his right side, but unbeknownst to them, just as soon as they had turned their backs to the tree, its frail branches, which seemed to cling so desperately to life, slowly withered and died away, its leaves detaching themselves from the branches and fluttering slowly to the ground below, coming to a final resting place atop the grass.

Kate and Humphrey continued on, completely incognizant to the bizarre and inexplicable phenomenon that occurred, but whenever it was that they took to traversing again, they continued on a path different from the one that they had previously walked, and had they not done this, what with the curve of the earth and the endless sea of grass, they would have never seen what lay just over the horizon. They were not sure if it was luck or a mere coincidence, but in the fading light, they could just start to make out the outline of yet another tree. Even though they could see only thin fingerlings jutting up from the ground, they knew it to be a tree somehow. They could honestly not explain exactly how they knew; all that they did know, however, was that they were going to check this one out as well, whether it was in their natural will or not. Humphrey walked abreast of Kate, his braced leg swinging outward from his body a short distance, really a pain in his tail if he had to say so, but he needed to keep it on if he wished to stay mobile. However, he had decided already that he would only keep it on for another week. He was certain that by that time he could tough it out until it healed properly. Kate thought it to be pretty humorous, the way that he had to waddle a bit when he walked, but she would keep this to her own personal amusement so as to not offend or hurt her friend's feelings.

They picked up their pace slightly, the both of them anxious to reach the tree and inspect it, and as they drew nearer, they could better begin to make out the object that they were approaching. It was first noticed that this particular tree was obscenely large for this barren wasteland, its diameter far surpassing four feet in width with branches that would dwarf any human. This tree was undoubtedly dead, for they could see that it had been toppled by some sort of great force, its lengthy roots hanging ornately from its base. This was a substantial uplift in morale for the two of them, for they knew that felled trees often times meant a den, for the pocket created from where the roots had been ripped out of the ground was more often than not perfect to use as a place in which to stay. This was affirmed when they finally came up beside it, finding just where they had expected it to be, a cavern large enough to easily house the both of them, and even a third and fourth, though that number would be irrelevant to them. Kate and Humphrey were both unbelievably relieved by the sight and as the pair pushed their way through the entanglement of draping roots into the dark confides of the depression, they both took in long, collective breaths through their noses and released them slowly from their mouths. Kate turned her head to her left, finding Humphrey to be doing the same to his right and they met each other's eyes with warm, eccentric smiles.

"What luck huh, Kate?" he asked her felicitously.

She nodded, turning her eyes to look about inside of the nearly black den.

"And just in the nick of time, too," she replied.

Humphrey nodded in return, sweeping the den before him and outside at his back with his eyes before he settled them upon Kate again and it was at this moment that the two fell into a deep, tense silence, averting their eyes from each other and taking a fallacious interest in the fur on the tops of their paws. Each of them had so many questions to ask, so many concerns, but now that the time had come when they could finally get settled in and have to opportunity to clear the fog that lingered between them, neither one of them could find the right words to say. Humphrey would open his mouth to speak, pricking his ears briefly and lifting his head slightly, but as soon as the time that it would take for a breath to be taken, he would lower his eyes again and pin his ears to his skull. Each time that he lifted his head, Kate would do so as well, but would lower it silently again as he did, thrashing her mind for the words that so cleverly eluded her.

"Well, who is this?" they heard a strange voice finally muse, making the two of them jump in alarm from the prompt break in silence.

They both flashed their eyes about the interior of the darkening den, searching every nook and cranny for the owner of the voice and when they heard a scrape of claws on the wood above them, they looked up, finding a pair of giant, yellow eyes staring back at them. Kate and Humphrey were silent, staring up at the eyes with alarm.

The eyes narrowed slightly as the owner laughed and there was a flutter, then into their visual spectrum and onto a rock before them, landed a large Grey Horned Owl.

He did not give the two wolves time to speak before he opened up his beak to make his voice hear.

"Please forgive me for the start," he apologized, waving a wing, "it is not very often that I have visitors in my home."

Kate and Humphrey turned to each other quizzically, but remained silent.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the owl began, folding a wing and laying it on the feathers of his great, speckled chest, "I am Michael, and this," He removed his wing from his chest and used it to gesture to the confides of the cavern, "is my home."

Kate and Humphrey followed the sweep of his wing with their eyes and then turned back to him. Michael seemed completely calm in their presence, though they were certain that he could hear the agonizing groan of their stomachs. He shifted on his talons.

"Feel free to stay here for as long as you need," he told them, "and if there is anything that I could do for you, all you have to do is ask." He paused for a brief second and then added "All I ask is that you don't try to eat me," he said and then chuckled.

Kate and Humphrey chuckled awkwardly in response, for it truly had crossed their minds to apprehend their host and eat him, but perhaps they wouldn't need to after all. It dawned on them that since he lived here, that meant that there was bound to be food and water somewhere, and perhaps that also meant that he knew where and how to find it. Time to put that theory to the test.

"So Michael," Kate began inquiringly, "how exactly is it that you live here? And also, why? I mean there's not a bite of food or a swallow of water in this place."

Michael allowed a smile to crawl across his beak.

"Food is everywhere if you open your mind and know where to look," he answered, though avoiding the latter question he had been asked.

Humphrey and Kate both cocked their heads in confusion.

"Excuse me," Michael said dismissively and hopped between the two of them, pausing near the mouth of the cavern and spreading his wings.

He ruffled his feathers and then lifted himself effortlessly into the night sky, quickly disappearing into the thick, inky black and once again leaving the two canines to themselves. Silence fell immediately upon them once again, the same thick, awkward silence that had befallen them when they first arrived in the den, only this time, they were certain that they would have nothing to conveniently interrupt them before they could initiate any kind of sufficient conversation.

Humphrey sighed deeply, catching Kate's ear, but not her attention, for she was thinking of how she was going to word what she was going to say next. There was a pause, laced in silence and then Kate turned to him.

"So… what… happened to you?" Kate asked him slowly, trying to pick his scarred face out of the darkness that surrounded it.

Humphrey pricked his ears and turned to her, but he offered no response.

"… your… your scars," Kate specified, again, trying to pick her words selectively.

Humphrey had dreaded this moment since the moment he had been reunited with her and now that this moment had finally come, he did not know if he had the guts to tell her what really happened to him. He feared what she would think of him if he were to confess to her his recent sins. Would she leave him? Would she resent him? But at the same time, he didn't want to lie to her either, for he knew from experience that lying, though presently may make things substantially better, would only make the situation worse later on; but then again, telling the truth could completely demolish what little foundation he and Kate had built. After a long, arduous debate, one of which went unaided by his mutual friend, he slowly lowered his head, breathing in collectively before lifting it once again and turning his eyes to Kate.

"Kate… I want you to know something," he began hesitantly, "but it may be really hard for you to understand."

Intrigued and happy that they were finally going somewhere, Kate stepped closer, a subtle outline of her fur being illuminated by the pallid, blue rays of the moon.

Again, Humphrey paused, taking a moment to breathe and collect his conflicted thoughts before he lifted his eyes to her once again, but again, like so many times before, no words would roll past his lips.

Sensing his internal afflictions, Kate decided to relinquish her question. She sat for a moment and then rested a gentle, comforting paw on his shoulder.

"Humphrey, it's alright," she began softly, assuringly, "if it pains you this much to talk about it then you don't have to; and I certainly won't force you to."

Humphrey took in a quick, choppy breath and turned to her.

"No," he answered confidently, though still rather anxiously, "you asked me a question so you deserve a straight answer."

Kate removed her paw from his shoulder and stared intently into the dark, presumably into his eyes, trying her best to reason with him while remaining silent to give him time with his thoughts.

Feeling her gaze through the void, Humphrey sighed and slowly parted his lips.

"I-"

"Supper time, lovebirds," they heard Michael call suddenly.

Again they jumped and turned toward the mouth of the den just in time to see him land. Michael ran his big, beady owl eyes between them for a moment and then shifted awkwardly on his talons, feeling the tangible strain of tension in the room.

"Oh- uh- pardon me," he stammered, "if you two wish to be alone for a moment, I can always-"

"No, it's fine," Humphrey insisted, cutting Michael off mid-sentence, "we were only talking."

Michael had been around for a while and was able to sense that his guest was not being entirely truthful with him, but dismissed that thought, seeing as that the two were noticeably relieved that he had arrived when he did.

"Okay," he replied glibly with a single, curt nod, "so anyhow, the mice made themselves scarce tonight," he began, trying to change the subject, but lucky fir you, I was able to find something just as good."

"A rabbit?" Kate asked hopefully, her mouth beginning to salivate with anticipation.

Michael chuckled.

"Don't be ridiculous, I haven't seen a rabbit out here in over three years," he informed, much to the wolves' distain, "however, I did manage to scrape up a few of these."

He stepped back, revealing four large, black, obscenely shaped objects which squirmed slowly about on the floor of the den. The two wolves needed not to see their true color or form to know what it was that they were looking at, and they were disgusted.

"Grubs?" Humphrey asked, completely repulsed.

Michael nodded.

"Yup," he answered, "not exactly a mouse or a rabbit, but if this is all you can find they're not too bad."

"I'll take your word for it," Kate replied incredulously, watching the four worm-like creatures as they curled into circles, straightened out again, turned over, or inched along across the floor.

Michael moved his eyes between the two of them, finding them to both be watching their dinner uneasily and he laughed.

"Ah come on you guys," he teased, "quit being such pups."

Humphrey scoffed and lifted his eyes.

"I would much rather be a pup than attempt to eat that," he replied, but then felt a gaze turn upon him.

"Come on now Humphrey," Kate scolded, though sounding uncertain herself, "he didn't have to do this for us, and if he says that they're okay, then why not trust him? After all, I know you're about as hungry as I am."

Humphrey was reluctant, but eventually he conceded, for Kate had raised a pretty good point. It would be rude if they did not eat the offering given and he was in fact starving. He glanced between Michael, the grubs, Kate, and then the grubs one final time.

"Two for me and two for you?" he asked diffidently, still trying to wrap his head about this, for bugs were one of the last things he had ever planned to eat; right next to poisonous leaves and mud.

Kate nodded slowly in response and for a moment, the pair stared down at their would-be meals.

"Well… here goes," Humphrey said with a grimace and began to lower his muzzle toward one of the grubs he had selected for his sustenance.

Kate hesitated, allowing Humphrey to be the test monkey, for despite her earlier reasonings, she was still not convinced. Humphrey did not notice this, though, and when his lips were only an inch or so above the grub, he paused, taking in a quick breath before he slid his tongue beneath it. The grub rolled and squirmed to the touch, slightly discontenting to the omega, but he was quickly able to regain his composure and slowly drew his tongue back into his mouth, closing it carefully. He felt the grub squirming about on the surface of his tongue and he closed his eyes before using his tongue to position the larva between his teeth, biting down slowly. He felt the skin on the grub tense and then a mere second later, a squirt as all of the juices and miscellaneous liquid inside of the bug exploded into his mouth, coating his teeth and his tongue with a viscous liquid that he could not even begin to describe. It tasted like a mixture of dirt, wood, sap, tar, and leaves all combined together into something that far exceeded his expectations. The bitterness was even more so than the berries and mixed into this was a hint of sourness the likes of which had never teased his taste buds. He screwed his eyes shut, unaware that a thin string of the putrid liquid was hanging from his chin. Kate watched him, feeling sick, for the pop was so loud that she could hear it through his closed mouth. Humphrey could feel his gag reflex beginning to agitate as his body tried to rid itself of the blasphemous object, but Humphrey controlled it long enough to swallow the first part of his meal with a teary-eyed grimace.

"Buagh," he groaned in distain, shaking his head from side to side.

"How was it?" Kate asked him slowly, her ears erected attentively on the top of her head.

Humphrey groaned again and turned his head to her.

"Not nearly as bad as one would expect," he lied, feeling the invidious object beginning to stir up his stomach.

How he hoped that he would be able to keep it down.

"Your turn," he said to Kate, pawing at one of the grubs and then rolling it so that it lay just between her paws.

Kate stared down at the bug absently, trying to force the thought of what she was about to do into the back of her mind. She turned over to Humphrey. He seemed just fine. She caught his attention, received a nod of encouragement from him, and then turned her muzzle down once again toward the grub. She took a breath of collection, closed her eyes and quickly sucked the grub into her mouth, not even taking the time to chew it, for just as soon as it passed her lips, she swallowed it whole, feeling it squirm all the way down her esophagus until she could have sworn that she felt it drop into her stomach. She winced and opened up her eyes.

"It helps a lot if you don't chew them," she informed to Humphrey.

"Well of course you don't chew them," Michael interjected with a laugh, "chew them and they become poisonous!"

Humphrey's face fell and he felt his stomach drop right out of his body.

Michael and Kate both turned to him in his stunned silence.

"You didn't chew that did you?" Michael asked very seriously.

"I-"

"Yes he did!" Kate blurted for him, now panicking for she knew she had heard it pop inside of his mouth.

"What the hell man!" Humphrey yelled, becoming angry, "why didn't you tell me that before I ate it!"

Michael shrunk into himself, afraid to answer and Kate, as one could imagine was completely freaking out by now, almost on the brink of tears.

"Now I'm gonna die because of some stupid bug!" Humphrey screamed, his entire body shaking with both fear and rage.

"Help him Michael!" Kate begged, "There has to be some-"

Michael couldn't hold it in any longer. For the longest times, he had been silently sniggering between his beak, doing well to keep this hidden from the wolves, but now he felt the dam break and he began to burst out into fits of laughter.

Kate and Humphrey both turned to him crossly.

"What so funny?" Kate demanded, "he's gonna die and you find that funny!"

Michael's intensified, drawing scornful looks from the wolves.

"C- calm down," he strained, trying to gain control of his laughter, you're not… he's fine."

He began to laugh aloud again and Humphrey's face fell into an irate scowl.

"You've gotta be kidding me," he stated angrily, "that wasn't funny at all! You scared me half to death!"

Michael, of whom was still in fits of hysteria, leaned his wing against the side of the den, leaning the top of his head on the wall beneath it.

"Yes-s it was," he replied, his shoulders bouncing up and down sporadically with his laughter, "you should have seen your face!"

He turned away from the wall of the den and faced them.

"It was all… WHAAAA!" he screamed, doing his best to mirror the expression on Humphrey's face when he was told that the grub was poisonous if chewed.

Humphrey growled but then turned to his right when he heard new laughter.

"Michael, that- that was right on the mark!" Kate yelled, falling over onto her back, hugging her stomach with her forelegs.

Humphrey was still not amused and his scowl deepened.

"Oh come on Humphrey, don't be such a poor sport," Kate gasped between her laughter.

Humphrey growled and rolled his eyes, for if there was one thing that he despised, it was people laughing at him. He could tolerate it if he got to laugh along with them, like when he was doing his job and telling jokes, but when he was made to look like a fool, his resentment was absolute toward those who were laughing at him. He growled again under his breath and walked out of the den and the laughter immediately died away. Kate quickly rolled over onto her stomach, seeing just the tip of his tail disappear from her sight and she promptly pushed herself up onto her paws, making steady deliberation for the mouth of the den. Michael watched silently, knowing that it was probably out of his place to ask what was wrong, so he remained silent, left alone, laced in an awkward silence.

Kate exited the den and scanned the sea of dark for her friend and eventually found him sitting alone on top of the fallen tree, his back facing her. She studied him for a moment and then climbed up onto the tree where she paused, staring at the back of his head.

"You know how I feel about being laughed at," Humphrey mused, keeping his eyes forward, the only motion being that of the incessant tapping of his tail tip.

Kate sighed, slowly approaching him, though taking care to keep herself in the center of the log so as to prevent herself from losing her balance and toppling to the ground, now a pretty sizable distance down, and came to a rest just behind him.

"Humphrey I'm sorry," she apologized sincerely, "I guess, I just got lost in the moment.

Humphrey sighed.

"I know you are…"

He trailed off, losing his train of thought.

Kate stepped closer and rested her neck on his shoulder, sliding her muzzle beneath his chin and in that moment, for a while anyway, all of their previous troubles seemed to melt away, forgotten.

"Humphrey, you know that I love you," she whispered softly, trying to comfort him, though unknowingly answering one of Humphrey's most prominent questions.

So she had meant what she said earlier!

"I love you too," he whispered, doing his best to keep himself under control.

He wanted to scream, to howl, to leap toward the stars in joy, but he simply smiled and licked the top of her head, though still tentatively, for he felt as though this were all a dream and with one false move, he would wake up and find himself in his den, broken, angry, and alone. But this was not a dream. This was real. She was here, and she was his, his forever. Kate purred, feeling the gentle caress of his tongue and she nuzzled deeper under him before pulling away.

"Now come on," she said softly, "let's get some sleep."

Humphrey nodded and turned himself around, following closely behind her, digging his claws into the bark of the tree to prevent himself from slipping and when he got to the place where he had jumped up to get onto the tree, he paused, contemplating how he was going to get down. Kate stopped and turned to him, watching to see what he was going to do. After a moment's thought, Humphrey turned around, laid down, and then slid down on his belly, using the claws on his good forepaw to slow himself down until his hind paws found purchase on the ground below. He then pressed himself off of the long and turned to Kate, finding her to be smiling at him.

"Smooth," she teased, though mixed into this was a hint of admiration.

"I try," Humphrey replied, taking his place at her right side.

She smiled and flicked the side of his face with her tail and began to make her way toward the mouth of the den once again. Humphrey smiled at her back and began to follow, coming abreast to Kate a moment later. He debated tying his tail with hers, but in the end, contented himself with simply walking closer to her, happier than he had ever been in his life. The two re-entered the den a moment later under a greeting from Michael.

"Ah there you are," he began with a smile, "I feared that I may have driven you off."

Humphrey shrugged, pausing while Kate continued to walk deeper into the den.

"Don't worry," he replied, "no harm done."

Michael nodded and Humphrey once again regarded the grubs on the floor, finding them to be in a place only a foot or so from the positions in which he and Kate had left them. After a few seconds, he turned his attention to Kate.

"Umm… are you gonna eat these?" he asked her, though doubtfully.

She lifted her head and turned it to him.

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly eat another bite," she lied.

She was in fact still hungry, but with the events that had transpired on this night, she found herself without any appetite.

Humphrey nodded.

"Michael? Hungry?"

Michael shook his head.

"Have at it," he replied with a wave of his wing.

Humphrey no longer possessed the desire to eat, so he simply swept the two bugs out of the den and turned, finding Kate settled in against the wall farthest into the den. He smiled and walked over to her, pausing about a foot away from her muzzle. Kate sensed his presence and opened her eyes.

"Well don't be shy," she said invitingly, "come lay down with me."

Humphrey smiled brightly, his entire body shaking with excitement and he stepped around her body so that he was now behind her and laid down slowly, wrapping his stomach and chest around her back and laying his head down gently atop of hers.

"Good night Kate," he whispered with a smile.

"Good night Humphrey," she replied, her smile even broader than his.

Michael stood aside, simply watching the two with misty eyes. Their situation saddened him, for he knew that the two could never be fully comfortable in each other's company until they were able to open up and be honest with each other; but he could sense the underlying troubles in each of them and was then able to understand why it was so hard for them to speak to each other. He knew that they were in dire need of help, and help he would provide, for without it, he could already foresee the impending break. These thoughts weighing heavily on his mind, he shook his head in silent dejection and fluttered up to his hole that he had carved into the tree, landing gently and peering down upon them with all knowing eyes.


	17. Brain Damage Part 3

All of this confusion, all of this death, and all of this pain was becoming too much for poor Lilly to take. In less than a week, she had lost her big sister, a good friend, her one and only love, and now she had lost her father as well. She did not know how she had any tears left in her body after what had happened over the course of the past few days, for her days had been spent mainly in seclusion, away from everybody, crying her eyes out; and now that Eve was so busy planning on how she was going to find and kill Humphrey, her sobs went without comfort and without empathy from another. She no longer wore her fur back, rather she wore it once again over her left eye, hoping that if she were to hide her face that she could hide from the pain, but there was no escaping its crushing grip. Her lavender eyes were stained a dismal red color from the incessant cries and they burned with a dull sting from the perpetuation of her tears. She wanted so bad to be able to control herself, to shut her emotions down, but no matter how hard she fought them, no matter what kind of wall she built around them, they would always come smashing through, on some occasions even more intense than when she had tried to lock them away and this drove her ever farther into the dark abyss that was her depression.

She sniffled, wiped her eyes with the side of her paw, and then looked briefly about the den that was her home, searching fruitlessly for her mother, but when her eye reached a certain spot, it quickly changed direction, for she could not bear to look at the empty space in which her sister once slept. She felt new tears begin to sting her eyes and she blinked rapidly in an attempt to control them. There were simply too many memories in this den, too many reminders of Kate and her father. Their scents still lingered in the air and on the floor, and even near the back of the den, where the dirt became soft, was a mere perfect imprint of Kate's paw. Lilly wouldn't go near it, though, through fear of disturbing it, for she felt almost as though if she were to accidentally erase that paw print, she would erase what was left of Kate's memory from the world. So, that section of the den she avoided at all costs, but even where she lay now, there were memories, though these memories were more like scars in her mind, scars that she knew would possibly never heal, regardless of how she tried to erase them.

The air in the den suddenly turned sour on her tongue as the tormented and confounded thoughts that circled ceaselessly through her head became too much to take. She had to get out of here and try to clear her head or she might go mad with grief. She pressed herself starkly to her paws, wiped her eyes again with a sniff and turned her head toward the front of the den where pallid moonlight bled like some soft spoken spirit into the den. The moonlight called to her, to her instincts, to her soul, urging her out of the den so that she may bathe in its soft, blue rays; so that she may rejuvenate her broken spirit. She stepped forward, hesitated for a moment, and then began to walk toward the mouth of the den. As she neared the entrance, the moonlight began to crawl slowly across her face, reflecting off of her snow white fur, and once the last of her tail finally breeched the wall to the outside world, her entre body glowed in the lavish, blue light. However, to this she took no heed, and for a moment she stood, her head lowered slightly, her eyelids drooping, and her ears limp on the top of her head. She felt as though perhaps if she were to stand here, then she would be far enough to escape from the pain, but alas, in its grip she remained. She needed to get away from here, needed to find some way to escape her troubles, her inner afflictions; but how?

* * *

><p>In the Eastern portion of what was now officially known as the Central Pack, another individual was suffering from similar afflictions. He did not know what he had been thinking when he thought that he and Lilly could actually be together. How could he have been so stupid? What was worse? He knew better, and yet he allowed himself to fall head over tail for her, probably hoping that some fairytale crap would happen and the two packs would unite and completely abolish the rule; but he did not live in a fairytale world, so when the cold clap of reality inevitably took its swing at him, all he could do was stand there as it slammed into his face, destroying nearly every last of his hopes and dreams.<p>

Why did he ever have to lay eyes on her? Why couldn't he and Kate have just done their jobs, marry, unite the packs, have pups, and eventually maybe fall in love with each other? But he knew there was no changing any of that now. What was done was done. Kate died and she is never coming back, his father is now mated to Eve, and that was never going to change, and his heart belonged to Lilly, to whom he knew it would always belong. He sighed in silent remorse. He needed to get these thoughts out of his head lest he wanted to destroy himself. He needed to get out of here, needed to clear his mind. He pressed himself laboriously to his paws and turned his blurred eyes toward the mouth of the den, finding it odd that his father had not yet returned, seeing as that he no longer had anything to do with the efforts to apprehend the fugitive, but he quickly dismissed that thought; finding that at the moment, he could care less about where his father was. After all, the last thing he needed right now was to be told that he was a fool for even considering the possibility of courting to an omega, because that lecture got old rather quickly and was not one that he was very keen upon hearing again; especially not now. Again, he set those thoughts of anger aside and looked up from the ground, finding that his paws had already carried him out into the night.

He sighed, migrating his eyes up to the moon and as he stared, he found anger once again, but this anger he was able to control, and as he turned his head away from the moon, biting back a growl which rumbled down deep in his throat, he dismissed any and all possibilities that there was any such thing as God.

* * *

><p>Lilly wandered alone aimlessly through the dark woods of Jasper, travelling slowly, almost as though in some sort of trance, not caring where she ended up just so long as she could rid herself of the pain when she got there. Through mud and high grass she trekked, though completely oblivious to her surroundings, for she was but a zombie in the night, driven only by impulse, an impulse brought upon by the desire to eradicate her mental ailments, to end her life here and start another wherever her legs decided they could not travel any further.<p>

The end of his journey found him sitting atop Howling Rock and he instantly found himself wondering how and why he had come here. Why would he want to be here when this was the very spot at which he had first heard her angelic howl? His right mind told him that a reminder was the last thing that he needed, for memories were what he was running from, but another part of his mind refused to let him forget, for deep in his subconscious, though he told himself that he needed to forget about her and move on, he did not want to forget her. He did not want to forget about that beautiful moment they shared with each other; but the other part of his mind told him that he was foolish for not wanting to let her go, especially since it was her memory that was hurting him so. He sighed in confusion and in disdain, lowering his head and folding his ears onto the top of his head.

Lilly's paws finally came to rest on a ledge overlooking the valley and it was then that she finally came to her senses. She instantly recognized this particular place to be the section of Howling Rock that was set aside for the omegas to howl from and she sighed, for as she looked down upon the valley, she could see the path which led to Howling Rock, the same one on which she had first laid eyes upon Garth. She sat down and wrapped her tail around her paws, wondering why she had even come here in the first place, for she had no desire to be here, had no desire to even look at the formation that was Howling Rock, but for some reason, she could not force herself to leave, almost as though her mind no longer had any control over her own body. She sighed and looked up to the moon with blurred eyes, questioning her purpose on this planet, for her entire life had been nothing but disappointment and hurt, and she wondered why she should continue living if it would only bring upon her more suffering.

* * *

><p>Garth sat upon the ledge of the formation, the fur under his eyes soaked from the tears that poured from his eyes. He had not shed a tear since the day that his mother died, and now all of his pent up frustrations, all of his anger, his sadness, his regrets, flooded out of his body like the river that he cried. His shoulders bounced up and down with each sob that escaped his lips and at his paws, a puddle of mud had formed from the tears that dripped from his muzzle. He attempted to gain control of himself, but his emotions proved to be far more powerful than his will to hold them back and his sobs increased, building in volume and in intensity until he found himself gagging on his own tears. He collapsed to the ground, curling himself up into a ball, clutching his fists behind his head and coughing violently, gagging once again and nearly vomiting. He sucked in a breath through his clenched teeth and cursed, clutching the fur on the back of his neck in his fists and curling himself tighter where he lay inert, wallowing in the mud created by his tears.<p>

* * *

><p>She turned her head down from the moon, for in it, she saw only more remorse, and she looked down at her paws, closing her eyes, for she knew that she was going to cry; but her tears had finally run dry, leaving her without channel for her emotions, and this in turn caused her stomach to begin to curdle, making it feel as though it were wrenching itself into tight, clenching knots. She felt as though she were going to be sick, but she had not eaten in two days, therefore, she had nothing in her stomach to expel; or at least, that is what she thought. Without warning, the sickness in her stomach became an intense pain, one that was so excruciating that it brought her to her knees. She collapsed, clutching her stomach and began to gag, feeling her mouth beginning to salivate as it prepared for her stomach to purge its contents. She spat it to the ground, swallowing slowly as she tried to bite back whatever putrid bile stirred at the base of her esophagus, but this only prolonged the inevitable, for only a moment later, her stomach lurched and the first wave of vomit leaked from her mouth. When this wave had ended, she wiped her mouth with the side of her paw, but when she looked down at it, she found it to be smeared with blood. She blinked the tears out of her eyes and stared down at her paw in shock, trying to grasp what had just happened. She knew that this couldn't be good.<p>

* * *

><p>Garth finally pulled himself up from his fetal ball, feeling ten pounds lighter, and about ten times better than he did when his episode had first begun; but in light of this, his quandaries still remained, though now they had been pushed into the back of his mind. His disparity still remained, but now he was in control and more so physically exhausted than emotionally wounded. Now he wanted nothing more than to go home and get some rest. After all, he knew that he would need it if they were to be going out into the Dry Lands in the morning. With a sigh, he turned his body around and began to make his descent from Howling Rock, keeping his head low and his eyes drooping only half open with fatigue.<p>

His paws carried him down the twisted path, around the rocky formation, but as he reached the bottom of the structure, he paused, for something caught his ear. His ear flicked up followed by his head and he looked about, keeping his ears wide as he tried to hone in on the identity and the source of the sound, but for the moment, the sound relented to silence. He waited patiently, keeping his body perfectly still so that when the strange noise sounded again, he would be able to detect it. A few moments later, the sound crept into his ears again and it wasn't long until he realized that such a sound was labored breathing and muffled coughing. This put his senses on full alert, for he could detect trouble in the air around him. He deciphered the direction from which such a sound was emitting and weaved his way cautiously through the rocks, making his progression deliberate so as to minimize any sounds produced by his pawfalls until he was almost directly on top of the source. There he stopped and peeked his head carefully around the rock from behind which he had hid and he spotted the cause of such emissions.

He could not believe who he saw.

There, sitting just before him on a rocky outcropping, was none other than Lilly, the snow white wolf who had stolen his heart. He felt his chest begin to tighten and he felt his stomach begin to flutter, almost as though a swarm of butterflies were beating about inside of it. His legs began to shake and his breath began to rise, as did the blood in his cheeks. He could not believe that she was actually here! He felt as though he would collapse inside of himself so great was his joy, felt like he could fly, like he was invincible, like there was nothing on this planet that could stand in his way; but alas, something did, and he was very quick to realize this.

She was crying.

That was the sound, the sound of her tears that had brought him to her, not mere coincidence, and he could only guess as to why it was that she cried so. However, he soon realized that she was probably crying for the same reason as he had been earlier. She was hurt badly, but not physically. Like he had been, she was emotionally distraught by his memory, by her undying desire to see him again, to be with him, and this was what held him back. As bad as he wanted to step forward and comfort her, he knew that all this would do was hurt her further, and he couldn't do that to her. He had to help her forget about him, but how could she if he did not remove himself from her life completely? And how could he forget about her if he did not remover her from his? He stared on for a moment more, watching her in helpless dismay, and then sighed, turning slowly to leave; but as he turned, he felt one of his paws brush against something, and that something just happened to be a patch of gravel. He grimaced as he heard the scrape and froze when he heard the gasp of alarm from Lilly. He froze, cursed himself and looked up, finding Lilly to be on her paws, her eyes wide with fear, looking frantically about herself.

"W-who's there?" she called in a shaky voice.

Garth flattened his ears, knowing that he had been caught, but he remained hidden.

Lilly began to breath faster and Garth could see her body begin to tremble.

"Who's there?" Lilly demanded, more firmly this time, but this was merely brought about by the intensity of her fear.

Garth sighed, knowing that he had to make his presence known, regardless of what the outcome may be. He lifted his head and stepped forward and out of the shadows, his body quickly taking light by the moon's soft, blue rays. Lilly stood rigidly when she saw the movement, but when she saw the face become visible in the moonlight, her fear vanished completely, being replaced by emotions that so greatly conflicted with one another it made it so she did not know what to do.

**("Unite the Packs," by Chris Bacon begins to play. Fade in from 1:12)**

"Garth?" she asked slowly, almost as though in disbelief.

Garth stopped and looked down at his paws, for he felt as though he did not deserve to look her in the face.

"H-hey Lilly," he replied hesitantly, his voice faltering near the end of his statement.

Lilly looked away as well, tilting her muzzle toward the ground and closing her eyes so as to avoid meeting his, and like this she remained. An immense tension became tangible in the atmosphere around them, a tension brought to life by the great sense of awkwardness that the two felt in each other's presence at the moment. Their conflicting emotions and thoughts sprung them forth into an ocean of silence with seemingly no way of getting across, no end to the crushing taciturnity into which they could feel themselves sinking.

Beneath Garth's fur, a layer of sweat had begun to form, for, despite the moderate temperatures of the night, he felt hot, felt his face become flushed with blood and his pounding heart driving rhythmically against the inside of his chest. He drummed his pads slowly, keeping his eyes fixed intently upon the mechanical motion of his paw digits, almost as though he were studying something the likes of which he had never seen.

Lilly kneaded her forepaws on the rock beneath her, opening her eyes slowly and lifting them toward Garth, but could only see him through her right, for her left was obstructed by her fur. Her eye remained fixed upon Garth for a moment and in that moment she analyzed him, or what she could see of him due to the lack of adequate lighting. His fur was dirty, matted, unkept, like he had been in a fight or had had a really long day, and the fur on his face seemed almost pale, like he was sick, but she couldn't detect any signs of illness; and it was then that she realized that he was not ill of the body, but ill of the heart, the same as she. He was heartbroken, distraught, laced in grief, and this time the reason why did not elude her like it had initially. She knew now that his love for her must have been as strong as her love was for him, but this deduction would prove to be her last, for Garth must have felt her gaze upon him, for she could see his eyes beginning to migrate toward hers. Lilly wanted to avoid meeting his gaze, but for some odd reason, she could not will her eyes to move away and as a result of this, she found herself eye to eye with her star-crossed lover.

Silently they stared, refusing to look away from each other. Garth could feel his face begin to heat up even more and his heart now raced, threatening to bust through his ribs. Tension mounted again and each of them knew that one way or another, it would have to break, be it by verbal exposition or by physical collapse; they just hoped that it would not be the latter, but at the same time, they dreaded the former as well, for what would they say to each other? They had not the slightest idea how to express their thoughts or their feelings toward one another and they surely did not know how to react to what they may be told.

Garth broke eye contact again, but was quick to mend it, and it was then that he realized something. There was blood in the air. He sniffed at it, trying to find the source, and when his eyes settled upon Lilly again, he could see a thin layer of darkness around her lips. Now he was more concerned than ever. Whose blood was that?

"Lilly… are you okay?" he asked slowly, stepping forward.

Lilly didn't answer and this put Garth on his full guard. He didn't want to believe that she had killed somebody, but he couldn't dismiss the possibility either, because if she had indeed killed somebody, then that meant that it was likely that she may attempt to harm him as well. However, the only way for him to get to the bottom of this was to assess the situation in any way possible. He stepped closer.

"Lilly, can you tell me what happened?" he asked monotonously, his keen eyes fixed upon her.

Lilly didn't know what to say. She didn't know if she truly wanted to tell him what had happened or not, for her mind was so scrambled at the moment that she had no comprehension of a clear thought of any kind. She blinked away a single tear that had begun to form in the brim of her eye and wiped her nose with a sniff.

"Lilly, can you tell me whose blood that is?" Garth pressed gently, only six paces away from her now.

"I- it's mine," Lilly answered meekly.

"Y-yours?" Garth asked both in shock and in concern.

Lilly offered no verbal reply, only nodded once, almost as though in shame, and then lowered her eyes to her paws.

"Are you hurt?" Garth voiced, disregarding all of his previous suspicions as he quickly took to her side.

He started to look over her body frantically, searching for her ailment, but he could see nothing wrong with her.

"What happened?" he pressed frightfully, "please tell me."

"I-it's my stomach." Lilly replied hesitantly, failing to lift her eyes, "I… I don't know what's wrong, it just…"

She trailed off and allowed a deep sigh to pass over her lips.

Garth laid a gentle paw on her shoulder, thus causing Lilly to lift her eyes to it for a moment and then to his face. In his eyes, she could see the deepest of concerns, those that one feels when a member of the family is not well.

"Do you need me to take you to-"

"My mother?" Lilly cut in incredulously, breaking eye contact with him and shoving his paw off of her shoulder, "if I knew she would care I would have gone to her already."

Garth tilted his head in confusion.

"What do you mean?" he asked her in perturbation.

"I mean that I'm all out of dimes for that little speech of hers," she replied venomously, and when she saw that Garth still failed to see where she was going, she sighed, "'Lilly, you can't keep doing this to yourself, you're gonna destroy yourself.' The list goes on. Shall I continue?"

Garth sighed.

"This is about your sister isn't it?" he asked her empathetically, trying to choose his words carefully.

"Yes," Lilly replied, new tears stinging her eyes, "and my father, and Humphrey, and y-"

She cut herself off quickly before she could finish what she was going to say and lowered her eyes to her paws again.

"And… and me," Garth finished slowly, lowering his head, for he knew what it was that she was going to say.

Lilly said nothing, only sighed and folded her ears flat onto her skull.

Garth, for a moment, remained silent, trying to make sense of the words that swirled about in his head, organizing them into a sentence, and then releasing them once again into their oscillating vortex upon realization that they had not fallen together properly. He needed to say something, needed to say anything, for the longer he sat in silence, the more his mind worked against his courage and he knew that if he were to keep this silence up for very much longer, he would simply turn tail and leave.

"Y-you really shouldn't be crying over me, Lilly," he stammered hesitantly, a hint of sadness evident in his tone, "we should have known that it would never have worked out anyway."

"But I loved you," Lilly cried, "and you- you loved me, right?"

Garth sighed, for he knew that he had to lie to her, knew that it was the only way to resolve the matter in the long run, but how could he lie to her when he couldn't even lie to himself? How could he lie to her if he knew that it would break her heart? He couldn't do it. He couldn't hurt her like that. He loved her too damn much.

"Yes," he answered, lowering his eyes to his paws again so as to avoid seeing how Lilly would react to his words, "but-"

"Then that should be enough shouldn't it?" Lilly interjected, "I don't believe that you ever loved Kate did you?"

Garth didn't answer.

"Didn't you?"

Garth sighed, flattening his ears. Like this he remained for a moment and then lifted his eyes to Lilly, letting his ears perk as well.

"No, I never loved Kate," he answered, "just her looks when I first saw her, but-"

"Then-"

"Lilly, the laws," he interrupted firmly, feeling the need to finish his thought so that he may be able to make Lilly understand, "we can't don't you understand? We just can't; regardless of our feelings for one another."

Lilly's eyes began to well up with tears.

"But-"

"Lilly, I'm sorry," Garth begged, tears beginning to sting his eyes, "but we just can't. It would only end badly."

Lilly lowered her head, sniffling sadly, for like Garth had feared, his presence before her had ultimately crushed her. He knew that he should comfort her, but he didn't know how. What could he say that would make her feel better? There wasn't anything that he could say that wouldn't only deteriorate the situation further, unless… that's it! That rumor! He had been skeptical when he had first heard tell of it, but now that he thought about it, now that this situation was presented to him, he felt a new sense of hope beginning to wash over him.

"Lilly," Garth said softly.

Lilly didn't respond.

"Lilly," Garth said again, this time slightly louder.

This time, Lilly did lift her head, though slowly and unenthusiastically and met eyes with her love.

"Lilly, I need to tell you something very important," Garth said to her, almost excitedly.

"What?" Lilly asked flatly, for she could not understand why Garth would seem so happy at a time such as this.

Garth cast a look over his shoulder, just to assure that they did not have an unwanted audience present, then turned to her once again.

"I've heard a rumor that once this whole business is passed, your mother and my dad will try to work on abolishing the Alpha Law."

Lilly didn't know how to take such news. Was he serious? Or was this just some cruel ploy?

"Do… what?" she asked, tilting her head.

Garth smiled despite himself.

"Yes," he answered, "they will try to get rid of that stupid law."

Lilly lifted her head slightly, her eyes widening marginally.

"Which means…"

She trailed off.

"Which means," Garth continued for her, barely able to contain his exuberance, "that if we play our cards right, we may actually be able to be together."

For the first time in almost a week, Lilly found a grin forming on her face and this grin soon blossomed into an enormous smile, one that quite literally stretched from one ear to another.

"You mean it?" she asked, excitement beginning to become evident in her tone as well.

Garth nodded.

"Every word," he answered, then fell silent again, his smile slowly fading.

Lilly saw this through the darkness and her smile slowly faded as well.

"Garth?" she asked him slowly.

He sighed.

"Which is also why I must be leaving in the morning," he said softly, almost sadly.

Lilly didn't understand.

"Leaving?" she asked, "where are you going?"

Garth sighed.

"To go get Humphrey," he answered, lowering his eyes to his paws.

Lilly seemed impacted somehow by these words, but Garth could not quite put his paw on it, for her thoughts and her emotions seemed to clash with each other, resulting in a perplexing new feeling that she could add to her list of oddities that she had experienced when this whole spiel had begun, and this was evident all over her face.

Not wanting to cause anymore dilemmas tonight, Garth remained silent, waiting for her to sort things out for herself.

It didn't take long for her to do so and she was finally able to single out her emotions.

"Why can't you all just leave the poor guy alone," she asked him sadly.

Garth was taken aback by these words.

"Lilly what do you mean?" he asked shocked, rising a short distance off of his haunches.

Lilly sighed.

"Exactly what I said," she answered, "the poor guy has suffered enough. Can't you just let him go?"

"Lilly have you forgotten that he is responsible for the deaths of three wolves?" Garth asked defiantly, "he got Kate killed, murdered Zach in cold blood and then did the same to your father. He's a mad wolf, Lilly. He needs to be put down."

"Garth, you know that there is more to it than that," Lilly argued, lowering her eyes and then lifting them to him again, "Kate's death was an accident; he was not in control of that."

"But he was in control of what he did to Winston and to Zach," Garth contended, "he-"

"Garth, I'm not so sure that Zach's death was out of cold blood," Lilly interrupted, "or if it was, it certainly was not without a just reason."

Garth flattened his ears.

"And what exactly makes you say that?" he asked incredulously.

"If you ask me, Zach had it coming," Lilly began, and then leaned forward, "you are probably unaware of the history that the two had with each other."

"Aside from Humphrey killing him, no," Garth replied testily.

"The beef that Humphrey had with Zach stretches way back, perhaps even before the two were even born," Lilly answered.

Intrigued, Garth arched an eyebrow.

"Humphrey's parents were under constant abuse from Zach's parents," Lilly began, "right up until the day that they died."

Garth opened his mouth to speak, but Lilly silenced him with a raised paw.

"Let me finish," she insisted.

Garth closed his mouth again and nodded.

"Now, I've seen firsthand what Samuel and his wife have done to Humphrey's parents in the past, and I've also seen these atrocities go ignored and unnoticed countless times," Lilly continued, "and after Humphrey's parents died, Zach rose to become the next bully since his parents wouldn't allow themselves to be seen beating up a pup." She paused. "As was the situation with Humphrey's parents, what Zach did to Humphrey went without regard and without recognition which left him open to any and all heinous acts of cruelty that Zach was capable of conjuring, so it would stand to reason that Humphrey would have finally gotten sick of it." Another pause. "Now, do I believe that he would have done this had he not been in the condition that he is proclaimed to be in at present? No I do not. Do I want justice to be done? Yes I do, but where it needs to be done, and done it has been."

Garth waited for a few moments to see if Lilly had anything else to say, and after he was content that she had spoken her mind, he opened his mouth to speak his own.

"Okay, so maybe Zach deserved what he got, but what about your father?"

Lilly stiffened and something flashed into her eyes that Garth was unable to recognize, but as quickly as it had appeared, it vanished.

"Lilly?" Garth asked, stepping forward.

"It was an accident, Garth," Lilly demanded firmly, though keeping her voice level, "it was not his intention to throw my dad's head into the wall, only to escape the death that awaited him if he were to stay. Don't you get it? He's out of the territories and is no longer a threat to you or to anybody else in the packs. Why can't you just leave him alone?"

"Because it is my duty," Garth replied, "my dad chose me to hunt him and your mom is hell bent upon finding him, and if I were to say anything at all that would suggest I was having second thoughts, I'd likely be banished and I won't take that risk."

Lilly shook her head.

"Do you have any idea how selfish you are," she demanded, boring an icy glare into his eyes, "how could you play God like this? Who are you to decide who deserves to live and who is unfit for the life they have? And how can you so willingly assist in the murder of another being just so you can save your own-"

"Lilly I can't risk losing you!" Garth interjected, taking another step forward to her.

Lilly's eyes widened, for she had never seen Garth get emotional before and this frightened her slightly.

"I've already lost you once, I can't stand to do it again," Garth pleaded with his head held low and his ears folded onto his skull.

Lilly stepped forward to him and laid a paw on his shoulder, tempting his eyes to migrate toward hers.

"Garth, look at me," Lilly said softly.

Garth sighed and slowly lifted his head until his eyes were one with Lilly's.

"Garth, I understand how you feel," Lilly began, "because I loved you ever since I first laid my eyes on you and once I realized that such a love was in vain, I felt as though my heart had been ripped right of my chest and crushed before my very eyes."

Garth's eyes began to brim with tears.

"But Lilly, please try to understand that our love doesn't _have _to be in vain," Garth begged, "that's why we _must _find Humphrey, because that's our only opportunity to repeal the Alpha Law."

"So we would really condemn another to die for our own pursuits of happiness?" Lilly asked dejectedly, folding her ears.

Garth sighed and lowered his muzzle slightly but said nothing.

"This is all wrong," Lilly mused sadly, "all of it."

Garth made no response, only lowered his head slightly more and closed his eyes.

"Garth please," Lilly began pleadingly, "just promise me that when the time comes, you'll do the right thing."

Garth sighed and nodded.

"I will," he answered softly, though in his mind, he was not so sure that he would be able to keep such a promise, for he still found himself angry at Humphrey and he saw no other way that he and Lilly would ever be able to be together without ending the omega's life.

But how could he ever tell Lilly? What would he say to her? 'I'm sorry, but it was the only thing we could have done?' She would know better that that. He knew she would. She-

Lilly stepped forward and embraced him in a hug, thus pulling him out of his thoughts and back into the real world. He turned his eyes down upon her and nervously wrapped her in his forelegs as well.

"Thank you," Lilly whispered, nuzzling deeper into his fur.

Garth, despite himself, smiled and pulled her tighter to his body, wrapping his neck around the side of hers and laying it on her opposite shoulder. Like this the two remained and after about a minute had gone by, the two finally separated. Lilly stared up at Garth with a smile.

"Now go home and get some rest," she ordered sweetly.

Garth sighed, turning his eyes away from her.

"I can't," he answered, "I'm too tired to sleep."

Lilly sighed as well.

"So what are you gonna do?" she asked passively.

Garth shrugged, shifting uncomfortably on his paws.

"I'll probably just go home and wait for the sun to come up," he answered.

Lilly nodded.

"Yeah, I'll probably wind up doing the same," she mused, casting a quick glance down at her paws.

Garth nodded then turned to go, as did Lilly, but after a few paces, Garth stopped and pivoted on his paw slowly until he was facing Lilly's back.

"Hey… Lilly?" Garth called nervously.

Lilly stopped and turned to face him.

"Yes?" she asked him curiously.

"I was just wondering… do you think that just maybe… you and I could maybe howl one last time before go?" he asked her hesitantly, though hopefully.

Under the shadow of the night, Lilly's eyes brightened.

"Yes," she answered, "I would like that very much.

Garth smiled and began to walk toward her and Lilly began to make progressions toward him. The two met in the middle where their conversation had initiated and paused for a moment.

"So… same place as last time?" he asked her with a smile.

Lilly nodded in reply, stepping closer to him.

Garth slid slightly closer to her side as well, and the two slowly began to make their way up toward the top of Howling Rock.

**Hope you liked it. Stick around for Part 4**


	18. Brain Damage Part 4

Humphrey's head swiveled slowly about his body, and he strained his eyes to see where exactly it was that he had gone to; but he couldn't see a thing, for the darkness that surrounded him was absolute, as thick and as viscous as the liquid that drips from the wound in a punctured eye.

He was lost, he was alone, and he was afraid.

The silence was unnerving, for there was not even the slightest whisper of a breeze, not a single breath of life from the void that encased him. He didn't even know if he existed here. Was he even there at all? Or had he slipped away into nothing in his sleep, into the Hell of which he was certain he was going? He had to make a sound, had to do something to prove that he was actually real, not some faceless demon in some faceless, empty space. He called out into the void, but received nothing, not even a soft echo in response, and this discomforted him further; for the sound of his voice going unanswered was very haunting indeed. He reached out, or rather in, to his mutual aid, but even he was absent from this peculiar place; and Humphrey did not understand why. Where could he be? He was always there or him when he needed him.

"He does not exist here," Humphrey heard a voice say to him flatly, causing him to jump slightly from the perpetuation of his apprehensions.

"Hello?" Humphrey called in an unsteady voice, but that was all that could be said about it, for there was not even a flutter, or a breath, or a tangible presence from whom he had addressed.

He flashed his eyes rapidly in every which direction, afraid to move through fear of what peculiar demon may lie inside of this negative space, but all that he could see were the most subtle of outlines of the base of his muzzle before his eyes.

And then, from out of the darkness, like mockery from the Devil himself, laughter rose, but not just any laughter; this particular laughter resembled a child's laughter, which helped to ease his apprehensions only slightly, for the innocence of a pup is difficult to overlook, but at the same time, he still remained wary due to the given circumstances in which he found himself, especially since the laughter was echoing all about him and differed from the voice of whom had called to him before. He could never be at ease, not while he was still in this strange, dark place, and there was no telling what horrible evils lay within the blackness, what demons tormented him from the seclusion of the void.

The laughter then became multiple laughs, which steadily worked to unnerve the otherwise courageous and intrepid omega, driving him toward turning tail and taking flight, but something strange, a rather serene occurrence, compelled him to hold his ground, even to advance his position further into the mysterious space. A light began to shine on what Humphrey assumed was the horizon line, such light having the appearance of being many miles away, but at the same time possessed the feel of being well within his reach. It is unknown, even to him, what compelled him to press on. Maybe it was the natural desire for his body to move toward the light, maybe it was genuine curiosity, he could not tell for sure; but something drew him toward this light, some unseen spell that pulled him much like a moth to a flame.

"Hello?" Humphrey called out again, trying to evoke a reply from the owner of the laughter, and took a cautious step forward toward the source of luster.

He was answered only by more laughter, so he chanced another step, and then another, and before he could think to stop himself, he found himself padding at a steady pace toward the light. With the closer that he got to the light, the easier his vision came to him and the louder the laughter became, and then suddenly, though the light still seemed so far off, , he was blinded by a blast of sunlight, which made him pinch his eyes closed in response to the sudden intensity and luster and slammed his paws into the ground arresting his momentum. He hung his head and slowly blinked his eyes open until they had adjusted fully and the spots had vanished from his spectrum and he found himself staring at a creek with crystal blue water that trickled slowly over its bed of smooth rocks about a foot beneath its surface. He recognized this creek immediately, but he did not know, nor could he even begin to guess how he got all the way back here.

This creek was the one that ran directly behind the Alpha Den, and such a deduction was justified when Humphrey again heard the laughter, only this time, it was nearly right on top of him. He turned his head quickly toward it, ready for he knew not what, be it a fight, a flight, or death. However, this would prove to be unnecessary, for what he found, was a group of females, many of whom he had no familiarization with; but there was a certain amber wolf in the middle of them that he would recognize anywhere, even as a pup. He smiled, but once the realization of what was happening hit him, his smile faded and was replaced by a look of absolute bewilderment. How in the world could this be happening? He was looking at Kate whenever she was maybe two months old for god sake!

"You're confused," Humphrey heard a male voice inquire from somewhere to his right, one that he recognized, but did not expect to hear.

"You," Humphrey spat in surprise and turned quickly to find Michael, the same owl that he and Kate had met in the tree den.

Michael only tilted his head to his right shoulder and preened his feathers.

Humphrey didn't know what to feel, was so befuddled that he hardly knew what to do or what to say, but he did what he could and went to jettison his confusion.

"Who are you really and how are you doing this?" he asked as calmly as he could.

Michael preened his feathers again and rubbed the side of his beak with one of his wings and then looked down to Humphrey.

"It will all make sense to you in time," he answered flatly, "but only if you pay attention."

"Pay attention?" Humphrey asked, arching an eyebrow, "to what?"

Michael only pointed behind Humphrey with his wing. Humphrey turned and saw the pups playing in the river and understood what it was that Michael wanted him to do. At first, though, he considered arguing, for he did not want anything to do with whatever sorcery this was, but eventually decided against it, for his questions burned with the need to be answered, and it appeared as though a straight answer would not be given to settle his curiosity. He looked about his position, searching for a place to hide, for he feared what would happen if Kate were to see him, but Michael sensed his apprehensions and was quick to remove them from his mind.

"This is not the past," he revealed to him, "merely a memory of Kate's past, so your mortal form from present times does not exist here."

Humphrey was still lost, but this was all that Michael was willing to give him at the moment, he found out, so he kept his mouth shut and merely did as he was told.

"She always was one of the more responsible pups in the pack, "Michael mused to Humphrey, receiving only a silent nod of agreement, "but even she has made mistakes."

Humphrey looked up to the owl, for such a statement seemed irrelevant as to why he would be here.

"I'll show you what I'm talking about."

In the blink of an eye, Humphrey found himself in a den, one of which he had never entered before.

"This is the Alpha Den of your pack," Michael said to Humphrey in answer to his silent question as he landed on a rock inside of the den.

Humphrey then understood why it was that he had never seen the inside of this den, for law stated that omegas outside of immediate family were not permitted into the den an since it was new to him, he felt inquired to investigate it. He ran his eyes about the inside, taking in the smooth interior walls; but when they fell upon a tiny ball of fur in the middle of the den, they remained glued upon it, for its mysterious unfamiliarity captivated him. He recognized this form to be that of a juvenile wolf, but its identity eluded him.

"We behold Jake," Michael explained.

"Jake?" Humphrey reiterated in confusion.

"Aye," he answered, "third born and only son of Winston and Evelyn."

Humphrey could not believe this. Kate had a younger brother and he never knew; but what he could not understand was why. He was almost certain that he would have known that by now, seeing as that he and Kate had been friends since they were probably a month old, so why had he never seen or heard of him before?

"You may observe if you feel so inclined," Michael said to Humphrey, shifting on his talons, "your presence will not disrupt the memory."

How could Humphrey pass up something like this? He slowly approached the sleeping form of little Jake and studied him, taking in his red fur and tan ears; but when he rounded his front, he tilted his head in confusion. On each of his legs, was a set of two logs, one above and below his knees, of which had two flexible vines on either side of his knees that held them together. Braces, perhaps? But Humphrey was no doctor so he did not know for sure.

"Jake was born with a certain illness attacks the muscles in his body," Michael explained, causing Humphrey to briefly turn his attention away from Jake and to him, but after a brief moment, Humphrey returned his gaze to the pup, "his legs were affected most by this," Michael continued, "and it very soon got to the point where he couldn't walk without those braces."

Humphrey was astounded and confused at the same time by Michael's inexplicable knowledge, for he could not begin to comprehend how this owl knew so much about his friend; but he soon realized that, once again, this question would have to wait, for before he could even think to open his mouth to ask, Michael continued.

"His hearing was also not fully developed when he was born," he informed, "he had only fifty percent of his hearing in his right ear and was completely deaf in his left," Michael finished.

Humphrey felt bad for the kid, thinking about just how terrible it must be to have to live a life of immobility, and then another question arose in his mind. Where were Winston and Eve, and why was Jake left all alone?

"You are wondering why he was left by himself today despite his condition," Michael inquired.

Humphrey nodded, not taking his eyes off of the juvenile, but then an old thought once again crossed his mind.

"Yes, but-"

"Today was a historic day for your pack," Michael continued, interrupting him, "for today was the day that short year ago that Winston and Tony met to decide on a compromise to unite the East and the West, and it was decided that Evelyn and Tony's mate, Dusk, should be present as witnesses to the conciliations. Now Kate, being the oldest sibling, was left to babysit until their return. Lilly was given permission to leave the den, but Kate was not; and in a moment of weakness on the behalf of your lovely friend, her life, and the lives of her entire family would change forever. Watch."

Humphrey found himself by the creek again and watched with a subconscious smile as Kate and her friends romped and splashed about in the water, momentarily forgetting about all of his previous confusion.

"Kate had been following orders like she should have been until her friends asked her if she wanted to go swimming with them," Michael stated, "Kate, of course, declined the offer, reasoning with them that she had to keep an eye on Jake, but these few simple words sealed his fate, and I quote: 'Oh come on Kate, we're not gonna be gone long; and besides, we're gonna be right around the corner. What could possibly go wrong that you wouldn't have time to help if you had to?' Kate was only a pup so one couldn't blame her for what she did, but her actions had some dire consequences. Let's jump ahead a few minutes."

The scene did not change much. The only differences between now and earlier were the positions and locations in which everybody had been previously. His eyes quickly found Kate again and he found her to be rising up off of her stomach and out of the water. She shook her fur dry and then turned to her friends.

"I should be going guys," she said quickly and promptly excused herself, beginning to scamper hurriedly toward her den, but as she rounded the corner, she bumped into a familiar grey leg and was sent onto her bottom.

"Kate, what are you doing out here?" Winston demanded sternly, his words backed by a firm gaze from Eve, "you're supposed to be watching Ja-"

Winston was interrupted by a sharp yelp which caused him, Kate, an Eve, to all turn their heads. Humphrey turned his as well and saw a large, thick plume of fine dust swirling out of the mouth of their den, crawling slowly across the ledge od the outcropping and dropping hauntingly to the ground below. Winston and Eve didn't say a word. As soon as they saw the dust belching from their den they scrambled up the ramp that led to it. Humphrey followed them and when they reached the top of the ramp, he stopped dead in his tracks, staring on in shock.

The Alpha Den had collapsed.

He remembered hearing something about this, but if he could recall, he was with his parents and when the ruckus began, he was told to wait in the den while his parents went to see what the matter was. If he could remember correctly, they returned nearly an hour later, both of them completely caked in dirt and walking inside with morbid, distraught expressions on their faces. He did not know why at the time, for they did not tell him, but now he understood. His parents didn't want to frighten him.

He shook himself away from these thoughts and returned his gaze to the scene at hand.

Winston could only stare on in silence as a group of curious onlookers began to file in behind him, but Eve channeled her shock in a different manner.

"Jake!" she screamed in horror and began to frantically shovel away the dirt and rubble that had piled up a short distance inside of the den, "Jake!"

Humphrey felt paralyzed and all he could do was turn his eyes intermittently between the den and Kate. She stood behind her father silently, rigidly, her eyes closed and brimming with tears, for she knew what it was that she had done, what guilt she would have to live with from now until her dying breath.

Other wolves pushed quickly past Winston, one of whom ran directly through Humphrey, and began to help Eve dig, but Humphrey knew, as did Kate, that Jake was dead, even though her mind screamed at her, telling her that he was still alive under there; but she knew better. She knew in her heart that there was no way that Jake had survived.

Michael snapped his wings and the scene cut immediately away, like somebody had turned out the lights in a room, and Humphrey was once again thrown back into the void.

"It's funny how trauma alters one's personality," Michael mused from somewhere inside of the void, his voice echoing around inside of Humphrey's head.

Humphrey looked about, frightened and teary-eyed, but he could not see a thing, for the darkness about him was absolute.

"For Eve, this incident made her extremely overprotective of her family, but for Winston, the results were a little darker; but he is not of our concern at the moment."

Humphrey tried to call out to the bird, tried to speak, but his voice got caught inside of his throat as the blackness that surrounded him turned into yet another place that he did not recognize.

There were rivers of differing size everywhere, open fields, wooded areas, mud holes, rocks, cliffs, which was quite strange, for an area such as this should not have existed anywhere that he knew of inside of the park, maybe even anywhere at all; but it would be right up to par with all of the other bizarre things he had already seen.

"Western Alpha Training Grounds," Michael said, and just as soon as he finished, moving figures began to take form around them, many of them mere pups, while some, five at his count were adults; instructors if he had to make a guess, and that would in turn have to mean that the pups were students, young alphas in the making.

Each teacher, it appeared, had four students under his or her instruction, and each group was engaged in different activities. The group farthest from him appeared to be doing water aerobics, as to why he did not know, nor was it an aspiration of his to know. The group a short distance to his right was maneuvering through the rocks scattered about in a field of high grass, maybe practicing hiding and stalking? He chanced a look off to his left when he heard a sharp yelp, followed by applause, and this in turn caused him to avert his attention to his back. What he found when his eyes did finally settle, was a pair of wolves, one a dirty tan, the other grey, before a group of three others, while beside them, stood a blonde furred instructor. The grey wolf had the tan wolf pinned by the throat, but not for long, for as the applause continued, he relented and removed his paw from his assailant's neck, thus allowing his foe to rise.

"Very well done, Hutch," the female instructor congratulated, the applause dying away as she spoke, "as for you, Ash, you may want to consider choosing your opponents more wisely. Next time I may suggest a squirrel or mouse, maybe you'll win then."

This drew laughter from the group gathered and Ash, feeling the sting of his instructor's ridiculing words, lowered his head.

Humphrey was beginning to lose interest in this when he heard something that caught his ear.

"Next contestant to enter the ring?" the instructor called, "Kate? Why don't you give it a shot?"

As soon as that name reached his ears, Humphrey returned his full and upmost attention to the combat circle, finding Kate to be stepping quite hesitantly out before her peers.

"So confident when she first arrived," Michael mused, "so certain of her capabilities, but she was very quick to realize that she was far from the flawless alpha that she thought she was. In fact, she started off as one of the worst students in the group."

"One of the worst?" Humphrey asked in disbelief, turning his head down to Michael.

He gave a single, curt nod.

"Yes," he answered, "compared to the rest of the students, even those outside of her group, only two were slower than her, her stalking skills were awful, and her fighting skills were far less than what one would expect from the daughter of the Alpha Pair."

Humphrey still could not believe what he was hearing.

"But, whenever Kate came back from Alpha School, she was phenomenal," he argued, "what you're saying doesn't make any sense."

"That is because you jumped to conclusions too quickly," he retorted, "you must learn patience before you speak, but also know when the time is right to speak your mind."

Humphrey grumbled.

"So what now?" he asked flatly.

"Now, we begin to answer a few of your questions."

"Contestants face off," the instructor said sternly.

Hutch turned to Kate rigidly, his poise being that of a war machine, his concentration that of steel. He assessed every last molecule of information that he knew about her. She was similar to him in size, but with the way that she moved, had a high center of gravity, low confidence, and heavy paws. She showed signs of fatigue, even fear? Based off of what she had demonstrated on days previous, she was a rather slow striker, inaccurate, and had a bad habit of exposing her chest and neck, brought about by over extension when she swung. All of these observations, assessments, deductions, flashed through his mind in a time quicker than it takes one to blink an eye.

Kate, on the other hand, was not as vigilant as she faced off against her assailant. She knew that she had been put up against the top of their class, maybe even intentionally, and was surely doomed to fail. No sharp observations flashed through her mind, just exacerbating apprehensions that clouded her mind and distorted her thought process.

"Submissions, knock outs, or pins. Fight."

Hutch, much like a missile, launched immediately into action, but Kate hesitated slightly, and was therefore, taken advantage of rather quickly. With one slick move, Hutch ducked beneath Kate's chest and sent her flopping down hard onto her back. Kate rolled, scrambling frantically to rise, for she was determined to not allow herself to be beaten so easily, but Hutch was lighting, striking hard and striking fast. He dashed in, arresting Kate's momentum before she could roll past her shoulder blade and standing over top of her, waiting for the opportune moment to finish her. Kate, as a last desperate attempt to shake him, met him with flailing paws, sticking one lucky blow to the side of his face, which made him flinch only slightly, but all this did for Kate was forgo the inevitable, for just as soon as Hutch turned his head down to her again, he swatted her paws roughly aside and jammed one of his own into the side of her neck, pressing down firmly just beneath her jaw. Humphrey wasn't going to just stand here and watch this. Kate needed help! He sprang into action, bolting toward Hutch, but was immediately called back by Michael.

"It won't do you any good," he warned, "you'll pass harmlessly through him and will probably wind up hurting yourself more than you could've him."

Humphrey skidded to a halt and regarded Michael for a second then sighed, sitting down to watch the remainder of the events before him.

Hutch needed one last move in order to ascertain an effective pin on Kate, and once this was accomplished, the two became inert. Kate knew that it was pointless to struggle now, so she lay completely at the mercy of her adversary, awaiting the call from her teacher.

"Nicely done, Hutch, you'll make a fine alpha."

Hutch nodded curtly and began to remove himself from Kate, sliding his leg beneath her shoulder so that he may assist his future leader to her feet, for it was the sportsmanlike thing to do.

"But as for you, Kate, I have never seen a more pathetic excuse for an alpha in my life," the instructor said harshly as Kate was helped to her feet, "why your parents would ever be comfortable with handing the pack over to you, is something I'll never be able to understand."

Kate stood with her head low in shame, for if her cutting words weren't painful enough, the sting of the sneers and sniggers from her classmates exacerbated the situation until she felt as though she had not the right to even call herself an alpha.

And all of this, Humphrey could only watch, could only endure, making him feel completely helpless.

"She did show improvement over time," Michael admitted, "but by that time, the emotional damage had already been done. You may not be well aware of this, given your status in your former pack, but Alpha School is a very cruel place where weakness is picked at and preyed upon with relentless ridicule, scrutiny, and physical brutality from everybody. Consequently, Kate was made to be the class's punching bag, and you know what that can do to one's mind."

Humphrey nodded once, for he did in fact know what it was like to be somebody else's punching bag, or he at least knew this vicariously, for he had seen it far too often in the case of his parents, and was therefore able to understand where his mysterious feathered acquaintance was coming from. Though his parents had done well to hide it from him, Humphrey could sense their afflictions, could see the pain behind their eyes brought about by the sting of those words that lashed their emotions so frequently; and it seemed as though he was the only one who noticed, or the only one who cared, and his assumptions were justified on the morning that his parents had turned up missing. The only reason anybody ever looked for them was because Humphrey himself had begged Winston to find them. He learned that day just where omegas truly stood in his pack, but quickly forgot that when he practically became a part of the Alpha Family for a while, though he still knew in the back of his mind that he would never truly belong.

He shook these thoughts away with a sigh. That was over with. Winston, his parents, Zach and his parents, they were all irrelevant to him now. Kate was the only thing that mattered anymore, the only thing that he had left to live for, the only thing that provided him with stability. He allowed a look of firm determination to set itself upon his features, and as he turned to Michael again, the scene began to fade, drawing him back into the void.

He still had so many questions, but for the moment, he remained silent, content with simply waiting for what may happen next, be it another memory, or morning, but as the lighting began to change, he found himself peering through the window of yet another haunting memory, though there was no way that he could have prepared himself for what he was about to see.


	19. Brain Damge Part 5

Where was she? She couldn't see a thing besides the faintest of outlines on the base of her muzzle, but then, from somewhere off to her right, she heard something, something of which sounded vaguely similar to running water. Curious and anxious to alleviate herself from the crushing black that surrounded her, she turned her body east and began to walk toward the sound, keeping her progressions deliberate through fear of what may lie underfoot in the unrelenting darkness. Voices, hazy and unintelligible, began to rise and fall around her, seeming to approach her ears and then retreat into the void in which they hid.

She tried to ignore these unseen voices, tried to shield her ears from their incessant call, but even when she covered her ears, they still remained, ringing strong inside of her head. She knew not where she was or where she was going. All she knew, or what she hoped, anyway, was that the sound of water must have meant that there was an exit nearby. All she would have to do was run, follow her ears and hope that whatever evils lay hidden in the void would maintain a respectable distance. She quickened her pace, on the verge of panic, and now began to run, but then something strange happened, something that she did not entirely expect.

Her paws suddenly lost purchase on the ground beneath her and she fell, but she did not hit earth, only continued to fall freely to what she was certain would be her death. Terrified, she screamed, calling out involuntarily for Humphrey, and pinched her eyes closed in preparation for such a sudden end. All sound vanished in this moment, even her horrified screams failing to pierce her ears; and then, after what seemed like an eternity, she hit the ground, but she did not stop. She continued sinking, though more slowly this time, and she felt her suddenly become deathly cold. Kate, for a moment, thought that she was dead, but when she chanced a peek and slowly peeled an eye open, she realized that she was alive, but could see nothing but an inky blackness around her of which was broken intermittently by subtle flashes of pallid, white light. It was at this moment that she realized, her body was soaking wet, and it was then that she realized that she was now in another spot of trouble, for, though she knew that she was under water, she had no idea which direction was toward the surface and also had no idea just how far down she had sunk.

She opened her other eye, straining to preserve what little breath she had left in her lungs, but, despite her best efforts, she could feel it rapidly beginning to expire. Her lungs screamed at her to breathe, but the urge she fought through fear of drowning and she forced herself to calm down, for she knew that panicking would only deprive her body further of its precious oxygen, and she collected herself, using her stinging eyes to scan the black water surrounding her. She looked up, or at least what she thought was up, and saw the white reflection of the moon dancing ghost-like above her. Desperately she began to swim, but now that her body was in motion, the urge to breathe became almost impossible to resist. She thrashed her legs as fast as she could possibly make them move, but she felt as though she were making no progress. She gulped, feeling her lips beginning to part as she continued to scramble urgently for the surface, but her body just couldn't take anymore. She kicked one more time, opened her mouth, and breathed.

And she breathed air.

Her mouth and nose breeched the surface of the water and she sucked in deep, greedy breaths of air, tasting it in her throat and feeling the cold pleasure of the chilled air as it filled her lungs. Relieved, and exhausted from her previous ordeals, Kate rolled over onto her back, and for a moment, she simply lay with her eyes closed, feeling the water roll through the fur on her face, and breathing in the sweet nectar of life as her body bobbed rhythmically on the surface of the water.

But then reality hit her and brought her back down to earth. Slowly, she opened her eyes and lifted her head out of the water slightly, causing her midsection to dip beneath the water a shallow depth, and she glanced around, trying to assess her surroundings. However, her current position proved to be rather unstable so she righted herself again so that her paws were now down and she used said appendages to keep herself afloat. Finding this to be quite ineffective for speculation, Kate went for broke, using her paws to pivot herself in a tight circle until she was able to see a bank onto which she could climb. With a tired grunt, she began to make for the bank and shortly thereafter, she pulled herself out onto dry land. As soon as her hind paws were finally on solid ground, she shook her fur dry poorly and collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. She thought that nearly drowning once today was enough, but twice? She was really beginning to question her luck as of late. She turned over onto her back with a tired sigh and draped the back of her wrist across her eyes, closing them and taking a moment to breathe and to calm her shaking body. After a few moments, and after her heart had finally settled, she took in a deep breath through her nostrils and lifted her head up, removing her wrist from her eyes.

She was astounded by what she saw, so astonished that it brought her involuntarily to her feet.

Somehow, in the time that it had taken her to fall and then to finally drag herself up onto dry land, the void had disappeared, being replaced by a nighttime scene in none other than Jasper Park. She then took into attention once again the sound of running water and turned to her right, finding herself to be standing near the base of Howling Rock Falls. Now she didn't know what to think, to feel, or even what to do, so she simply stood, gazing in awe at the scene around her almost as though for the first time. Something fluttered and then landed on the log of a fallen tree that lay horizontally behind her, but she was so lost in the recessions of her mind that she did not notice, that is until it spoke.

"Hello, Kate," a male voice addressed flatly.

Kate's concentration had been so intense that the sudden disturbance caused her to nearly jump out of her fur and she whipped her body around quicker than the strike of a cobra, her wide eyes flashing rapidly about the forest behind her, but when they settled upon a familiar bird, illuminated subtly by the soft rays of the moon, they narrowed and she tilted her head.

"Michael?" she asked, her new shock and confusion spilling like blood from her mouth.

Said bird ruffled his feathers and nodded.

"Yes, Kate," he answered, his tone still the same as it had been when he had first addressed her, "it is I."

Kate squinted her eyes against the dark and began to approach him, tilting her head more and more until she finally came to a stop a few feet before him.

"What are you… doing here?" she asked slowly.

"The same as you," he replied, "searching for answers.

Kate cocked her head to the other side.

"Ans-"

Her ears then detected once again, muted voices, and she found them to be the same muted voices that she had heard in the black space.

"Voices," Michael inquired to Kate.

"Yes?" Kate replied, "but… who-"

She was interrupted by something she did not expect. Without warning, she found herself standing near a dead tree just a short distance back from the top of the falls.

"What the hell?" she asked frightened.

Michael, of whom sat on a low branch beside Kate, shifted on his talons once again, ruffling the feathers on his great chest.

What just happened?" Kate asked him, turning to him with wide eyes.

"Just a little jump," he answered dryly, "nothing to concern yourself over."

"A little jump?" Kate retorted incredulously, "the falls are over two hundred feet from top to bottom! How in the world is that a little jump!"

Michael sighed.

"I can understand your concern, but it was intended to be more of a hyperbolic statement more than anything else," he replied, "it wasn't exactly meant to be taken literally."

Kate huffed in indignation.

"Quit playing games," she demanded, stomping her paw, "what really happened?"

Again, Michael sighed, though this time it was deeper than before. He could already tell; this was going to be a long night.

"As I'm sure you can probably tell, this is a dream," he answered, his intent being to continue, but his voice was silenced inside of his throat when he heard Kate begin to speak, thus cutting him off.

"Yeah I know that much," she replied testily, "but why are _you _here? And why is it that you are so obviously in control of _my _dream?"

"If you would have allowed me to finish, I would have told you," Michael replied, a trace of bitterness becoming present in his normally patient voice.

Kate rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'm all ears."

Michael grumbled under his breath and turned to her, forcing his scowl to fade from his face.

"Because you wouldn't be having this dream without me," he said plainly, "I-"

"So it's you who did this to me?" Kate demanded, "you know a little warning would have been great before you dropped me into the river."

"I am an individual who is very close with the ways of ancient magic," he continued, speaking as though Kate had never interrupted him, "though rather than tempering with the darker arts, I have devoted my studies to that of knowledge, truth, and wisdom."

"_Yes," _Kate answered in a 'go on' fashion.

It was to my understanding, based upon my observation of you two, that you needed help, so I took it as an inclination of mine to assist you in the best way that I knew how, and that was to alleviate any kind of skepticism that the two of you shared for one another."

"Skepticism?" Kat huffed, "A simple curiosity about his wounds isn't exactly what one would call skepticism."

"Aye, is very true," Michael replied, "but your curiosity burns, compelling you to begin to make assumptions and deduction about your friend that could bring about suspicion."

Kate sighed, lowering her head toward her chest.

"Fair enough," she said flatly, "but why us? For what reason did you feel as though we deserved to be helped?"

Michael fell into a momentary silence, almost as though he were lost in the recessions of his mind, but after a span of a few seconds, he spoke again.

"Love deserves a chance," he relied plainly.

"_Really?" _Kate asked in her mind, for she felt as though the answer could not possibly have been more blunt and more clichéd, but as she thought further, Michael's words began to sink deeper into her, and it was then that she realized what message she was meant to receive from such a statement.

"Have you foreseen our fate?" she asked nervously, causing Michael to slowly turn his head toward her.

"Aye," he answered flatly.

Kate stared up at Michael with fear evident in her eyes.

"Wh-what happens to us?" she asked apprehensively.

"I cannot answer that," Michael replied monotonously, "for direct intervention in the thin fabrication of Fate and Time would only yield to events of catastrophic consequence. It was all I could do to bring each of you here. So that I may teach you and so that I may warn you of what lies ahead if you two were to remain a mystery of each other."

Kate nodded, now completely at peace with what was transpiring around her.

Can- can I see him?" she asked him hesitantly, "is he still here?"

"Yes," Michael answered, but only in memory."

Kate tilted her head in confusion.

Michael smiled and swept a wing dismissively before him.

"It will all make sense in time," he said to her, "now please, watch."

"Watch wha-"

Kate's voice was cut off inside of her throat when the voice rose around her again, now growing louder with each passing moment. Kate's immediate instinct told her to seek shelter in the bushes, but she was stopped by Michael.

"There is no need," he informed, "you are invisible to them."

Kate was hesitant, but she conceded, for, though she was slightly suspicious, as she very well should have been, thus far, Michael had not given her any reason not to trust him, so she remained out in plain sight, awaiting the voices that approached her. A twig snapped to her right and the voices finally leveled off in volume. These sounds caught her attentive ear and she turned, seeing a pair of silver-lined silhouettes approaching her, one of which was slightly larger than the other. Though Kate could not tell by physicality, for their faces and bodies were shaded by the darkness around them, she knew them to be male and female; their voices attested to this fact. Kate was genuinely intrigued, _had _to know who these wolves were, for if she was meant to see them then they had to be of great importance.

She brushed off her previous apprehensions and stepped forward, straining her eyes against the darkness of the night in an attempt to make out the features of these two peculiar canines that drew so near. She paused before them a way, her eyes struggling to find purchase on their faces, but the two wolves in question had their heads turned toward one another, thus blocking her from the identity that she so desperately desired. Closer still they came, turning their heads forward finally, but within a proximity that was so near to Kate that she only had but a few seconds to take in their faces before they passed her by.

However, Kate saw what she needed to see.

The first of the two, the female, was beautiful with long, silvery black fur and fiery, emerald eyes. Her muzzle was long, with a narrow white stripe running down the middle, one that thinned and gradually faded into black as it drew near to her nose, of which one half was a vibrant pink color.

The male looked almost like a spitting image of Humphrey.

He had the same fur color, the same aqua-blue eyes, even the same gait; but this wolf could not possibly be Humphrey. He was too big body wise and his voice was too deep. Unless… could this be… no, that was not possible; they died a long time ago.

"Meet Jack and Mary," Michael introduced, "Humphrey's parents."

"Humphrey's parents?" Kate ejaculated, "but… they're dead."

"Not at current," he replied, "at this point in time, which I would say is probably close to twelve months ago, they were alive and well."

Kate was both frightened and befuddled at the same time and it was made abundantly clear by the expression on her face, but Michael did not call her out for it; rather he decided to let her ask the questions and then would answer them accordingly. After all, that _was _why he was here.

"What do you mean by 'close to twelve months ago?'" Kate asked hesitantly, her tail lowering slightly.

"What you see here," Michael began, "is merely a memory of events passed."

He paused, perhaps to see how Kate would react, but she remained silent, so he continued.

"Though this memory is one of many that have pained Humphrey throughout his life."

Still, Kate remained reserved.

"Watch," Michael said flatly.

Jack and Mary walked together side by side toward the edge of the falls, talking quietly to one another, laughing softly until finally they sat down, Jack entwining his tail with hers.

"It sure is a beautiful night," Mary said to Jack, leaning gently onto his shoulder.

Though Kate could not see his face, she knew that Jack must have been smiling as he deposited the side of his head onto the top of hers.

"It's still not as beautiful as you," he whispered to her, using his paw to softly tilt her muzzle toward his.

She smiled and they pressed their lips together, two wolves having never been so deeply in love, and after a moment, they separated and stared longingly into each other's eyes.

"Tell me, Jack, what did I ever do to deserve to find a wolf like you?" she whispered softly, nuzzling her face into the fur on his chest.

Jack smiled and licked gently between her ears.

"I've asked myself the same thing every day since the moment I first laid my eyes on you," he replied, his voice a soft croon, "you truly are one of the greatest gifts I could have ever been given.

She blushed deeply.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too."

Kate, though warm in her heart, was slightly confused.

I thought that this was supposed to be Humphrey's memory," she chimed, turning toward Michael, "not watching his parents get ready to fu-"

"Let's watch the language Kate," Michael reminded, interrupting her, "and yes, this is indeed one of his memories; look down there."

Michael pointed to a small bush, under which was an opening which reached about ten inches upward. Kate turned her eyes to it and then back up to Michael, confused.

"Look," Michael instructed, pointing to the gap beneath the bush.

Kate lowered her head and peered into the gap, finding a pair of tiny eyes, reflecting green in the moonlight, to be staring back at her. She jumped back slightly, for she had not expected to see this, but, under a muted chuckle from Michael, she composed herself again and looked beneath it, finding the owner of said eyes to belong to a young grey wolf pup.

"Humphrey?" Kate asked, squinting her eyes so that she may better see the pup through the darkness.

"Yes," Michael answered.

Kate's left ear flicked briefly in his direction, but her eyes remained fixed upon Humphrey, staring at him as he stared so intently, yet so curiously through her at his parents.

Despite herself, Kate found a small smile to be creeping across her lips.

_Aww, look at you! You were so cute as a pup," _she thought, staring down at his big, innocent, blue eyes, his long, glossy fur, and his plump, still developing body, "_but… what are you doing all the way out here?" _she wondered, her head tilting slightly, "_you should be at home."_

Kate smiled and allowed a soft chuckle to tickle her throat.

"_Look at me," _she thought further, staring at him with adoring eyes, "_I'm acting like a mother and I've never even had pups."_

She chuckled silently as she shook her head then sighed and returned her gaze to the pup.

"He followed them," Michael chimed, causing Kate to break her attention away from the pup and focus it once again upon Michael.

"Why?" she asked, tilting her head.

"I wish I knew," Michael answered with a sigh, "and there is a part of me that wishes that he hadn't, wishes that he had simply stayed at home in his bed and gone to sleep like they had told him to do. That way he could have been spared of the pain that he is about to experience.

Kate was speechless, feeling a nagging sense of foreboding beginning to creep into the back of her mind, one that twisted her stomach into ever tightening knots.

"Well isn't that just _cute_," a new, but somehow vaguely familiar voice mocked from the seclusion of the darkness.

Kate turned quickly to face the newcomer, as did Jack and Mary, though Jack had turned with an annoyed growl which seethed through his teeth.

"What do you want, Samuel," he demanded exasperatedly, his eyes falling upon the tan colored wolf.

Kate's eyes widened as the name pierced her eardrums and the feeling of impending doom further engulfed her, almost wrenching her stomach out of her throat. She was almost certain that she knew what it was that she was about to see.

At this moment, Humphrey, who still watched silently from the seclusion of the bush, completely slipped from her forethought and all of her attention focused itself solely upon the three wolves before her.

Samuel looked offended, but Kate was certain that this offense was more of a mocking, pretentious type, and it became abundantly clear to her from where Zach had gotten his antics and his lewd personality. She growled, for just the thought of Zach and his family of pricks was enough to leave a foul taste on the back of her tongue. Samuel strutted closer, his tail erect on the end of his spine, and his heartless eyes gleaming under the moonlight. Jack and Mary rose to their paws, Jack pushing his mate behind him protectively.

This caused Samuel to smile, for he always found it cute when omegas tried to look tough, especially when they knew so little about fighting as Jack did.

I honestly thought that you would know better by now," he mused, shaking his head slowly from side to side, "omega trash like you doesn't belong on this mountain, doesn't belong in a pack, hell, you don't even deserve the miserable, pathetic lives you been given, so why don't you and your little bitch go home before I do this world a favor, hm?"

Jack growled softly under his breath.

"You're one to talk about having a pathetic life," he seethed shakily under his breath, this done so under the fearful eye of his mate.

"Am I now?" Samuel asked with a raised brow, sheer amusement pouring like venom from his tongue.

Mary cast anxious eyes between the two, terrified for the well-being of her mate, for she knew what Jack was getting herself into, but was unsure if he knew.

"Jack please," she begged, laying a paw on his shoulder, "let's just-"

"No," he interjected, turning only his eyes toward her then returned their aggressive focus to Samuel, "this ends tonight, one way or another."

Samuel allowed a toothy, sadistic smile to creep across his face as a snake creeps to the warmth of a flame and chuckled softly in the base of his throat.

"You torment those who cannot defend themselves against you, yet you cowar before your superiors," Jack said firmly, "you speak only lies but demand trust, demand respect, yet are only feared, though pointlessly because you are nothing more than an imperious, egotistical, spineless coward, and an insufferable prick, and what's worse? All of this will one day be what identifies your son as well."

Samuel's jaw locked and his tail tip flicked quickly from side to side.

"You _sure do _have a _big _mouth," he mused, intently studying the paddingon his right paw.

He then turned it down and lifted his eyes to Jack.

"Let's fix that."

Without warning, Samuel lurched forward and delivered a crushing blow to the side of Jack's face, such a blow being enough to knock him to the ground.

Mary gasped and rushed around to his side, kneeling down to look at his face.

Jack lay on the ground, eyes closed and writhing in pain. Both of his paws firmly covered the place where he had been struck, but blood still seeped down his face and down his leg. He groaned and Mary lifted her eyes to Samuel, boring the deepest of hatred into his.

"You son of a b-"

"Watch it now," Samuel warned, "that's my mother you're talking about."

She growled and turned her attention down to Jack, who was now beginning to take to his feet again.

"Jack please," Mary begged, "y-"

"No," Jack groaned, staggering to his paws, "I'm gonna finish what he started."

Samuel laughed.

"Simply incredible," he mused, "how you speak such strong words, yet you know as well as i do what the result of your pretentious bravery will be."

Jack remained firm, unfazed by his assailant's words, and took what seemed to him to be an adequate fighting stance, which in turn caused Samuel to laugh even harder.

There was a rustle in the bush behind Kate as Humphrey scooted closer to the opening of the hole in which he his, but her full attention was focused on Jack and Samuel, so this motion went unnoticed to her.

"Jack, you're making this too easy!" Samuel guffawed, "I thought that you would at least know how to _present _yourself as somebody who actually knows what they're doing, but I guess I was wrong about that."

Jack said nothing, only growled, lowering his head.

"Jack please," Mary begged again, "he's just trying to get a rise out of you. Please, Jack, don't give him what he wants. It will only end badly."

"I don't care!" Jack yelled, whipping his head around to face her, "for too long he's tormented our family and for too long I've done nothing to stop it, but no more... I'm gonna do what I should have done months ago."

He turned to Samuel once again.

"I'm gonna end this."

Again Samuel laughed mockingly at Jack, each articulation of his laughter cutting deeper and deeper into Jack's ears, but even deeper so into his skin.

"Stop laughing at me!" Jack yelled and took a swing at Samuel, but before Jack could even register what had happened, Samuel seemed to vanish and his paw sliced harmlessly through the empty air.

And then, the next thing he knew, he felt a forceful thud on his flank and he was tossed over onto his side, landing heavily upon his hips with a pained groan.

Mary was crying by this time, her eyes closed tightly so that she did not have to see the beating that she knew her husband was about to receive, crying not only for him, but for her own sense of helplessness. In the bush, tears stung the eyes of Humphrey as well, but his sobs remained silent, for perhaps it was that he was clinging to the fallacy that what was going on before him was some sort of violent game.

Jack rose painfully to his paws, groaning as the dull burn of his aching ribs assailed his nervous system, and turned to Samuel again only to see a large paw fly directly into his eye. The impact was with an incredible force and it caused his head to whip around to the side, but this time, he did not fall. However, this came with a hefty price, for since he remained standing, he remained vulnerable to strike after vicious strike from Samuel, but it seemed now that no matter how hard Samuel hit him, he refused to fall. His face by this time was covered in baseball sized welts, his nose bled, his left eye was swelled completely shut, and at some point in the onslaught of blows, he had bitten off the tip of his tongue which caused a wave of blood to slowly drip to the ground from between his lips.

Jack was driven forcefully by Samuel into a tree where the punishment continued, and one strike to the nose, followed by another to the eye, concluded with an attempted counter strike from Jack which resulted in a crushing blow to his abdomen which sent the beaten and bloody omega to the ground. Seeing Jack fall, Samuel relented, but only for a moment, for as the pulverized omega attempted to rise, he chuckled sinisterly and reared his leg back to administer a kick to Jack's side, but as his leg was moving forward, it was arrested by a sudden heaviness and a sharp pain. He yelped and turned down to see Humphrey clinging onto his ankle, his sharp fangs latched deep into his skin.

"You little shit!" Samuel boomed and flung his paw to the side, sending the pup careening into a rock face.

Humphrey's back struck the wall first, followed shortly by the back of his head and he yelped, falling limply to the ground.

Samuel turned his eyes down to his paw and found it to be bleeding from four slices where Humphrey's sharp pup fangs had punctured and then torn his skin and he growled.

"You're gonna wish you hadn't done that you little cur," Samuel seethed with a snarl, slowly approaching the stricken pup.

Humphrey, miraculously, groaned and began to stir, picking his head up and slowly peeling his blurred eyes open. Samuel stood before him, claws bared, ready to deliver the final blow.

"It's time to rid the world of this little pest," He mused, raising his paw and then swinging it down toward the pup.

His paw landed hard, slicing three deep gashes into his victim's neck, but when he saw who it was that he had hit, he snarled.

Humphrey's mother stood between him and the pup, but she stood weakly, her head lowered limply while a fountain of blood dripped from her neck.

"M-mom?" Humphrey asked frightfully, shaking his dizziness away, but she didn't answer; she merely stood, her shaky breaths faltering, her pink tongue hanging flaccidly from between slightly parted lips. She coughed and a thin strand of blood, mixed with a thin filament of saliva, dripped from her tongue to the ground.

"Stupid bitch," Samuel growled, pulling his claws out of her neck, bring with them, a hellish deluge of blood.

Without Samuel's claws to hold her, Mary fell to the ground where she lay in a slowly expanding pool of blood where she would very soon die.

Tears stung Humphrey's eyes and rolled down his muzzle, dripping to the ground where they each converted themselves into tiny puddles of mud.

"Mom?" he asked again as he reached a paw toward her, tears choking his voice inside of his throat so that he spoke in nothing more than a whisper.

Samuel laughed darkly, causing Humphrey to retract his paw almost as though his mother's body was a venomous snake.

"Mommy's dead, you stupid mutt," Samuel seethed, "but you don't need to worry about missing her too much. You'll be soon to join her."

Humphrey, feeling as defenseless as he did, closed his eyes, preparing for his life to end, but when he heard a vicious snarl ring out into the night, they were drawn open once again.

What he saw shocked him and it shocked Kate, who still watched the scene unfold before her from her position on the sidelines, but most shocked of all, as Kate could tell, was Samuel.

Humphrey's father, in the blink of an eye, was on top of Samuel's back with his teeth and claws dug deep into his opponent's shoulders. Samuel snarled as he fell to the ground, but this snarl was only to suppress the yelp of pain and fright that he had received when Jack had leapt upon his back. Together the two landed on the ground and then rolled over each other, separating to a distance of roughly three feet before coming to rest. Samuel turned his red-veiled gaze toward his assailant, of whom was just now pulling himself into a standing position. He did not charge, however enraged he may have been, for he was no fool.

He knew that he had gone too far and he knew that Jack would have to be completely engulfed with rage and grief to act has he had, and that, in consequence to this, the omega would be given a strength the likes of which he never even realized he had, but on the contrary, Samuel knew the corollary to such rage. Jack, though strong, would be blinded by his emotions, prone to carelessness and recklessness, and that would only result in his defeat, one brought about not only by Samuel, but by himself as well.

As Samuel had predicted, such observations flashing through his mind in the blink of an eye, Jack did not even wait to plan his next attack. As soon as he had gotten his feet beneath him, Jack launched himself at Samuel again, his teeth and claws bared, aiming to destroy the evil creature before him, but Samuel was ready for him. He quickly stepped to the side, making Jack miss, and just as soon as the omega had landed, he was dealt a brutal blow to his ribs which sent him rolling to the ground, but he was quick to regain his feet and he turned to face Samuel, snarling menacingly with his lips drawn back to the roots of his glistening fangs and his tongue flicking like a pink snake between his parted teeth.

Samuel smirked.

"You'll have to do better than that, Jack," he teased, dodging a swing from the omega, "woah! I almost felt the breeze on that one."

Jack snarled and swung at him again, but again, he came up empty so he tried again, aiming this time at Samuel's paws in an attempt to break his roots, but just as soon as Jack made this move, he was countered and dealt a heavy strike to the top of his head, one which sent his muzzle slamming into the hard ground. He groaned and picked himself up, wiping away the blood that dripped from his nostrils with his paw. He growled and leapt at Samuel, anticipating another sideways move, and as he had expected, Samuel made such a move, but Jack was not quick enough to capitalize on his attempt at a fake attack and therefore came up empty once again.

While Jack was fighting both for his pup's life and for the loss of his mate, Samuel was fighting for the sheer sport, for the thrill, and for the undue sense of dominance that he felt when his opponent fell at his feet, so he would make this last, make it to where he enjoyed it for as long as he possibly could before he finished ridding the world of the omega that he despised so much.

Jack landed and turned, taking another swing at Samuel's face, but Samuel ducked and countered by driving his elbow into the omega's jaw. There was a dull, metallic click as Jack's teeth slammed together inside of his mouth and he grimaced, staggering backward from the sheer force of the blow. He finally came to rest and spat half of his one of his teeth to the ground in a clot of blood then looked up, only to be struck hard in the side of his face.

Humphrey was far too stunned by the scene unfolding before him to be able to move. He didn't understand what was happening or why, for this trauma that he was experiencing was far too great for his young mind to comprehend, rendering him as helpless as a grasshopper in the grasp of a mockingbird.

Jack yelped as his face was struck yet again and he fell to the ground, landing hard on his chest where he lay inert, beaten and bloody. Samuel smiled down at Jack's seemingly lifeless body and chuckled then turned his eyes out to Humphrey.

There was a growl and he turned his eyes down toward Jack again, finding the omega to be stirring. He laughed, waiting for Jack to get his forepaws beneath him before stepping forward and kicking him behind his ribcage.

Jack cried out and buckled to the ground again, writhing in pain, but he was not going to give in. he sucked in a breath and began to push himself shakily to his paws again, but again was kicked before he was even halfway to his feet. He fell hard and began to rise again.

"Simply amazing," Samuel mused, "why is it that you must continue this senseless struggle?" He kicked Jack to the ground again. "What is it that you are trying to prove? What is it that you could even _hope _to accomplish other than your own destruction?"

Jack rose to his feet and lunged at him again with a yell and this time, his paw did find purchase on his opponent's face, slamming hard into the side of his muzzle. Samuel's head jerked sideways with the blow then whipped forward again, but he quickly regretted the action for as soon as he turned his face frontward again, he was struck directly in his eye which caused him to take a step or two backward. Jack moved to capitalize on this, but as his paw swung around a third time, it was caught and he was flipped to the ground where upon his throat was stomped. He gasped, kicking and struggling across the ground as he attempted to breathe, but his windpipe had been forced closed and now refused to open.

Samuel felt a twinge in his heart as he watched the omega squirm and gasp for air, guilt perhaps? However, he quickly buried such feelings of conscientiousness and allowed the same cruel smile crawl across his face once again.

Jack's eyes bulged out of their sockets from lack of oxygen and he grasped his stricken throat with his paws; all the while, Samuel stood aside, smiling that toothy, sadistic, smirky smile of his.

Kate couldn't stand aside any longer. She had to do something. She took a step forward, bent upon ending that bastard before he could cause any further harm, but she was hindered by the same warning that Michael had given Humphrey previously.

"It won't do you any good," he warned, "you'll pass harmlessly through him and will probably wind up hurting yourself more than you could have him."

Kate was hesitant, for she wanted so badly to be able to help her boyfriend's father, but she eventually relented and took a seat, though she pawed at the ground restlessly.

"Are you still with me, Jack?" Samuel teased, staring down at the motionless form of the omega.

Jack didn't respond, only lay inert on the ground with his back to Samuel.

"Is… is he…" Kate asked fearfully, but trailed off, for the word 'dead' had simply refused to pass over her lips.

Michael didn't answer, only continued to watch the scene as it unfolded before him.

"Michael!" Kate demanded, turning blurred eyes up to the mystical bird, but again he remained silent.

Kate was about to lunge at him when a choked cough caught her ear and brought her attention upon the downed omega again, finding his sides to be rising and falling, though she noticed that these respirations were extremely weak and highly laborious on behalf of Jack's lungs. He groaned, coughed again and began to roll over onto his stomach, though Kate could see that his body was trembling with weakness and fatigue. Samuel saw this as well and his smile broadened.

"Ah Jack, so nice of you to join us again," Samuel mocked, "I was afraid that I'd killed you too quickly."

Jack finally flipped over onto his stomach and began to attempt to get his paws beneath him.

"I don't know what it is that drives you so," Samuel began again, slowly circling Jack, "is it pride? Is it hatred, or are you the stupidest son of a bitch on the planet?"

Jack said nothing, but let out a soft groan as he began to push himself starkly up off of the ground and finally came to a standing position with his forelegs wider than his shoulders and his head held slightly lower than the base of his neck. He took a second to breathe and then lifted his eyes, followed shortly thereafter by his head, to Samuel and bored his red-veiled gaze into the alpha's eyes.

"It's neither pride, anger, nor is it stupidity," Jack answered hoarsely, "but for love and for honor, something that you yourself have never fought for nor experienced."

Samuel smirked at Jack.

"I do have to say Jack," Samuel ruminated, "there is at least one thing that you will have won before you die tonight, and that is a small margin of my respect and that is something th-"

"Save the malarkey for the fools who will actually believe it," Jack interrupted with a growl, "I have no desire to be respected by those for whom I have none."

Samuel's jaw locked and a low growl rumbled deep in the base of his throat.

Jack began to laugh hoarsely, which turned into a soft fit of coughing, but once he was finished, the smile returned to his lips, his teeth coated in a thin layer of his own blood.

Samuel's growl rose and he leapt at Jack, tackling him to the ground and tearing viciously at his body with his claws and his teeth, snarling ferociously as he attempted to finally end his rival once and for all. Jack, who was completely on the defensive now, struggled desperately to hold his attacker at bay, flailing his legs sporadically before him in order to hinder any attacks that Samuel made, but this act was pointless because all it did was anger Samuel further.

Jack knew that his time was short, so he did all that he could do at the moment: hold Samuel back as long as he could and make sure that his son had a chance to survive.

"Humphrey run," Jack called to his son, still using his paws to hold Samuel away from him.

Humphrey didn't move, for the moment, couldn't move, could only watch as his father struggled so desperately for his life.

"Humphrey go!" Jack yelled, "I'll be right behind you, now you must go!"

This time, Humphrey did as he was told and began to run, bolting off to his left and into the bushes. Samuel moved to intercept the pup before he could get away, but as he turned his attention away from Jack, the omega took the offensive and took the alpha's legs out from beneath him.

Samuel fell to the ground and turned his attention once again to Jack, of whom was taking to his feet again; but Samuel was not going to give him that chance. With a snarl, he leapt at Jack and took him to the ground.

Strangely, Jack felt nothing, not the claws and teeth that sank so deeply into his flesh or the fatigue from the amount of blood that he had lost, nor did he feel fear. All he felt was a sense of relief knowing that his son had gotten away. He lay on the ground, completely at the mercy of his assailant, he himself completely prepared to accept the death which finally began its slow creep upon him when he felt a slight twinge on his throat. He suddenly couldn't breathe, almost as though somebody had dumped water down his throat, and he began to feel tired, light. Everything around him seemed to grow bright for a moment and then began to become increasingly dim with each passing second. He felt his lungs filling, his body jerking, but everything seemed so far away, so distant, almost as though he was not inside of his body while this was happening, and then finally, after about two minutes, his heart stopped and he lay inert on the ground, his glazed eyes only open to narrow slits that stared lifelessly out upon the world that their owner had left behind.

Samuel stared down upon the dead omega and now, once all was said and done, as he turned his head intermittently between the bodies of Jack and Mary, he began to truly feel realize what he had done. He felt fear, paranoia, dare he even say regret begin to wash over him, and these conflicting emotions tormented his every thought, foreshadowing a fate that he knew would only be death. He couldn't let that happen. He needed to get rid of the evidence, needed to make it as though this night had never happened, but how was he going to do that?

Kate couldn't speak, could only watch with stinging eyes and trembling body. She wished words would take life on her tongue, begged her mouth to be able to move, but no matter how she willed it to open and create words, her teeth remained clamped together.

Samuel began to panic. He began to frantically scrape his paws along the ground, but then realized that he could not bury the bodies; they would surely be found and he would surely be caught. He patted the dirt back into place, doing his best to make it look as though it had never been disturbed, and then began to try and formulate a different plan.

And then it hit him.

He turned, beginning to make haste for the forest behind him.

He was gone for but a moment, but when he returned, it was in the company of a large boulder, of which he drug behind him with two vines.

Kate finally found her tongue.

"You… bastard," she seethed, her voice choked, "you cold… heartless… _MONSTER!" _she screamed and leapt at him, but she passed right through him and he continued with his work.

Kate turned and began to make vicious swipes at his face with her paws, but each time they reached his features, they would pass harmlessly through the air.

Michael only watched, sadness evident in his big, yellow eyes, but he would not intervene. Kate needed to get this out of her system, and even if that meant taking swings at apparitions, he knew that the anger inside must be weaned from her system somehow.

Kate growled and cried out ferociously with each jab that she took at Samuel, and eventually, she ran out of energy, standing now with all paws on the ground and her head held low.

"Kate, I'm sorry that you had to see that," Michael began, "but you-"

"I needed to?" Kate demanded, turning bloodshot eyes upon the owl, "What the _hell _makes you think that I needed to see this!"

Tears soaked into the fur under her eyes and then began to snake their way down her cheeks. She sniffled and wiped her eyes, but the tears still flowed.

"Kate please," Michael begged, "Without seeing this, you would never understand-"

"Understand what dammit!" Kate screamed, "Be forward with me for once in your fucking life! What is it that I must try to understand? Why won't you tell me?"

Michael sighed.

"I'm sorry Kate," he ruminated, shaking his head, "you were not ready, you-"

"Shut up!" Kate bellowed and leapt at him, but just as she was about to make contact with him, he disappeared and she found herself crashing into something that had not been there when she had made the initial strike…


	20. Brain Damage Part 6

**Ladies and gentlemen, this is a content warning presented to you by your friendly neighborhood Mojo. This chapter contains highly repulsive material that some of you may not wish to read, so I've written two versions, one explicit and the other implicit. If you feel uncomfortable with the explicit version, just read and skip over the italics. If you wish to read the explicit version, skip down to the italics and then continue on as you normally would. If it is not your desire to read the explicit version, please don't. You won't lose any information if you don't. Please do not feel obligated to read it unless you are absolutely certain that you can handle it.**

**Brain Damage: Part 6**

Humphrey wasn't sure what he was looking at, for like it had been when he had first arrived in this mysterious place, all he could see was a black void; but slowly, the darkness began to dissipate, yielding to light, and it didn't take long before Humphrey could make out his surroundings. This place seemed familiar, like he had seen it before, but he just couldn't quite put his paw on it. It was fresh in his memory, but something seemed SLIGHTLY different than what he had earlier seen. He thought that he recognized the shape, but in truth it was new to him. And then something clicked and he was able to recognize where he was. This was Kate's den, but this must have been sometime time after it had collapsed, for the walls still possessed claw marks from where they had been altered and on each of these walls, there were struts of which supported the roof so as to prevent another catastrophe from occurring.

Humphrey, for a moment, wondered why they were even there. The den was empty besides him and Michael, but after a few seconds, three images began to emerge from the air before him, three images that he would recognize from anywhere; but what troubled him was the obscene positions in which they were placed. Young Lilly was laying on her back with her hind legs spread out and between them, was Kate's head. As to why, Humphrey did not know, that is until he heard the third wolf speak.

"Why did you stop?" Winston demanded from his position behind Kate, "Do you want me to-"

"No dad please," he heard Kate beg and then watched in disgust as Kate lowered her head down once again between Lilly's legs.

"I believe you've seen enough" Humphrey heard Michael say to him and then the scene went blank as he was once again pulled back into the void.

_Humphrey wasn't sure what he was looking at, for like it had been when he had first arrived in this mysterious place, all he could see was a black void; but slowly, the darkness began to dissipate, yielding to light, and it didn't take long before Humphrey could make out his surroundings. This place seemed familiar, like he had seen it before, but he just couldn't quite put his paw on it. It was fresh in his memory, but something seemed SLIGHTLY different than what he had earlier seen. He thought that he recognized the shape, but in truth it was new to him. It drove him crazy, for he knew that he knew this place and it nagged incessantly at the back of his mind. And then something clicked and he was able to recognize where he was. This was Kate's den, but this must have been sometime time after it had collapsed, for the walls still possessed claw marks from where they had been altered and on each of these walls, there were struts of which supported the roof so as to prevent another catastrophe from occurring._

_Humphrey, for a moment, wondered why they were even there. The den was empty besides him and Michael, but after a few seconds, three images began to emerge from the air before him, three images that he would recognize from anywhere; but what troubled him was the obscene positions in which they were placed. Young Lilly was laying on her back with her hind legs spread out and between them, was Kate's head. As to why, Humphrey did not know, that is until he heard the third wolf speak._

_"Why did you stop?" Winston demanded from his position behind Kate, "Do you want me to-"_

_"No dad please," he heard Kate beg and then watched in disgust as Kate lowered her head down once again between Lilly's legs._

_Humphrey could only stare as Lilly sniffed away a tear and closed her eyes, cringing as she once again felt her big sister's tongue sweep over her virgin walls, feeling it penetrate a shallow distance into her every so often with the slow rhythm of Kate's rocking head, made so by the steady thrusts that Winston made on her rear._

_"I can't hear you," Winston stated coldly._

_Kate bit back a sob and began to moan softly against her will, trying to please her father in order to avoid the beating that was in store for her if she disobeyed him, but despite this, Winston growled in displeasure._

_"Lilly? Why aren't you moaning?" Winston demanded, "is she not pleasing you good enough? Are you not enjoying yourself?"_

_Lilly didn't answer. She used one of her paws to wipe away the tears that rolled ceaselessly down her cheeks and gasped quickly, trying to choke back her sobs._

_Displeased by his daughter's silence, Winston growled and pulled himself out of Kate's tailhole and began to saunter his way over to Lilly, glaring down pointedly at Kate as he strolled by, warning her to back away._

_"N-no dad, it's okay," Kate begged, taking a quick suck at Lilly's vagina, "I'll do better, I promise, boy Lilly, you sure taste good, mpfh, so wet," she moaned, trying to save her sister from her father's wrath, but it was not enough, for Winston silenced her with a growl, making her cower down and tremble violently._

_"Back away," Winston commanded sternly, pinning his ears back._

_Kate sniffled and finally complied, sliding herself backward and then rising to her paws._

_Humphrey could feel anger beginning to boil deep down in his veins, could feel his body begin to tremble with rage. He wanted to rip Winston apart for what he was doing, but he knew that he couldn't. He knew that his paws would simply pass right through him anyhow, but being forced to watch this was becoming too much for him to take._

_He wanted to leave, but something held him here, refusing to let him go._

_Winston glared at Kate indifferently and then turned his cold gaze down to poor Lilly, of whom was fighting desperately to keep her sobs in check, for she knew that tears angered her father, but this was to no avail, for a mere second later, she felt Winston's paw slam into her face, making her cry out involuntarily. Winston grabbed his youngest daughter's chin and forced her to face him, but she fought back._

_"Look at me," Winston demanded, jerking her face around._

_Lilly sniffled but kept her teary eyes closed._

_"Look at me!" Winston demanded again and struck her hard in the face a second time._

_Humphrey winced with the blow that_

_Lilly had been administered and he felt tears of both anger and helplessness sting in his eyes. He couldn't bear to watch this, couldn't bear to see them suffering, couldn't bear the guilt that he felt beneath his anger, guilt derived from being so blind to the truth._

_Lilly's head jerked only slightly, for Winston's paw arrested much of its momentum and she slowly opened her eyes._

_"There now," Winston mused, staring down into his daughter's lovely eyes, "isn't this easier?"_

_Lilly didn't answer so Winston raised his paw to deliver a third strike, but upon seeing this, Lilly flinched and began to cry._

_"Yes, it's a lot easier," she pleaded, still flinching through fear of her father's unrelenting blows._

_Satisfied, Winston withheld his paw._

_"Good, now quit fucking crying and get on your stomach," he ordered, " it's your turn."_

_Lilly sniffled and starkly rose to her paws, alternating her position so that she was laying down on her stomach. Winston smiled sickly and licked his lips slowly, running a paw along her rump, squeezing it, fondling it, slapping it, all the while, Lilly clenched her teeth together and pinched her eyes closed, her shame and her sorrow flooding out in the deluge of tears that snaked through her fur._

_Winston removed his paw from her behind and grabbed the base of her tail, lifting her butt into the air while keeping her chest on the ground._

_"Now keep still or daddy will make you regret it, hear?" Winston demanded and mounted her, moving her tail aside and pushing his hips toward hers._

_"I believe you've seen enough" Humphrey heard Michael say to him and then the scene went blank as he was once again pulled back into the void._

Humphrey was by this time breathing heavily and now that it was over, he sniffled and wiped his eyes with the side is his paw.

"W-why are you doing this you son of a bitch," Humphrey demanded in a shaky voice, his breaths trembling about as bad as his body.

"Because in order to understand your partner you must first reach an understanding of her past," he answered, "that way there are no secrets between you. However, this deal works in one of two ways."

Humphrey perked his ears.

"Once this information is all out in the open, it will be up to you and Kate to work it out. If you truly love each other, you will be able to see around each other's sins, overlook who or what they were in the past so that you can see who they are now; but if you should fail, if you cannot speak your minds, accept each other for who they were as well as for who they are now, your relationship will be driven apart."

Humphrey nodded intently, blinking what remained of the tears out of his eyes.

Michael looked up at Humphrey and then behind him, almost as though something was calling to him, then turned formed to Humphrey again.

"I must be going," he informed, "dawn is almost upon us."

"Wait!" Humphrey called before Michael could do anything.

Michael turned to him.

"Yes?"

"Who are you _really_?" Humphrey asked, refusing to take another step until he received some answers.

Michael peered up at him with his big yellow eyes, but remained silent.

Humphrey waited impatiently, his restless tail tip twitching ceaselessly behind him.

Again, Michael didn't answer and this in turn caused Humphrey's brows to furrow in aggravation.

"You must learn patience, young one," Michael informed.

"Patience!" Humphrey demanded, irritated by the owl's attempt to dance around his question, "I don't know how much more _patient_ I could have been! We've been through this whole... whatever this was for hours and you have _yet_ to answer a single one of my questions!"

"I've answered all of which were most important to you," Michael replied matter-of-factly, "you wanted answers about your friend and you got them."

Humphrey became flustered and he looked down, flashing his eyes rapidly from left to right, then lifted his head.

"Well... yeah, but-"

"Then why must you continue to press issues that are irrelevant to you?" Michael interrupted.

"Irrelevant?" Humphrey spat, "you just dragged me through hell showing me how screwed up Kate's life has been, so how is me wanting to know what you are and how you did all of this _irrelevant_?"

"It is not important," Michael answered, "you'll eventually forget about me, for my existence will no longer matter to you when you depart, but what you've seen tonight, on the other hand, cannot be unseen."

Humphrey scoffed

"So tell me this. How would I forget about you if it was you that showed me all of this in the first place?" he questioned angrily.

"The mind is a funny thing," Michael answered, "it remembers many things, happy memories, troubles and afflictions, but loses touch with many others and I know that with the passage of time, I'll become one of the latter."

Humphrey sighed.

"Fine, if you won't tell me who you are, tell me why."

"I've already told you why," he replied monotonously.

"Well, yeah, but what I really want to know is: why did you do this for us in the first place? I mean what do you get out of it? We'd only known each other all of fifteen minutes."

Michael sighed.

"I've been around this earth for a while," he began, "I've seen suffering and pain first hand, I've been around many who have as well, some far worse than others, and of those many, only a select few could handle it," he explained, "I've seen so many creatures, wolves, bears, birds, humans, die because they couldn't cope with their past. I could sense death in your future, so I knew that if your life were to be spared, something had to be done."

Humphrey listened intently to Michael's words, trying to make sense of them, but then one final question rang through his mind.

"How did you know?" he asked, his tail dropping slightly.

"I saw it in your eyes when you two showed up," he replied, "when you've affiliated yourself with the ones that I have, you learn to read their past by simply staring at their face."

"Their face," Humphrey reiterated softly, hanging his head, "m-my face."

Michael nodded.

"Yes," he replied, "but don't let the scars identify who you are," he sated, "rather, let them serve as a reminder of what you once were so that they may help you become who you want to be today."

Humphrey stood silently, thinking intently on Michael's wise words and he realized, he was right. All of that pain and bitterness was behind him, all in the past and it was time for him to let it all go. He needed to move on and now he knew that if he and Kate were to succeed in their relationship, he would have to help her do so as well. Only together could they stick it out and make it to the end.

He smiled and turned to Michael, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Michael?" Humphrey called, sweeping the void about him, but there was no answer, only a soft, warm breeze.

* * *

><p>Humphrey did not know what had happened or how it happened, but the next thing he knew, his eyes had peeled themselves open and were greeted by shaded rays of daylight. Michael's final words still echoed through his head, but after a few seconds, they faded away, freeing his mind so that he may recollect the lessons and revelations that had been bestowed upon him during the night. His thoughts immediately jumped to Michael and he found himself conflicted. One part of him wanted to thank him while the other wanted nothing more than to find him and rip his wings off if it was necessary to get him to speak straight with him; but when he remembered who was sleeping in his arms, he let those thoughts go for the moment and averted his mind to Kate. He feared that when he looked upon her now, now that he knew all of her darkest secrets, it would not be the same as when he had in days past. He turned his eyes down and found that he was right. He did see Kate differently, but not in the negative way that he had presumed. He found that when he looked upon her now it was with a great amount of admiration. He knew all that had happened to her in the past, saw the hurts that had scarred her mind, scars that would drive any other wolf mad with guilt and shame; but through it all, the loss, the pain, the sadness, she remained strong, and that to him was incredible, a true show of resilience and indomitable spirit. He remained still, for he did not want to disturb his new girlfriend, and found himself thinking again, only this time, his thoughts brought fear to his heart.<p>

What if Michael had done the same thing for Kate? What if he had shown her all of the horrible sins he had committed? Shit, he KNEW that he had, for he had said so, and that scared him. What would she think of him now? Would she see him differently now that she knew about his recent deeds? Would she look upon him with eyes of disgust? Would she leave him?

* * *

><p>She fell heavily to the ground and groaned, feeling as though she was going to pass out. She attempted to lift her head up but let it fall again when she felt blackness beginning to set in around her eyes. For a moment she laid still, trying to make sense of what just happened and then after a moment, she felt the pain set in. She grimaced and wrapped her paws around the back of her head then tucked her muzzle into her chest, curling into a tight ball about herself in an attempt to rid herself of the pain that pounded so profoundly against her skull. Like this she remained, waiting for the pain to subside enough for her to move again. Finally, that moment came and she peeled her eyelids open, though slowly for she could feel the dull burn if sunlight against her eyelids. For a moment, as her eyelids finally parted and her eyes had been allowed to see, she felt, more so hoped that she had woken up from the horrible nightmare in which she had previously been forced to endure, but when she opened her eyes, she found herself leaned against the wall of a den, one which she was certain she recognized, but could not quite figure out why.<p>

Perturbed, she tilted her head and stood up, though starkly for she was still in the process of recovering from the impact that she had taken to her head, and once she was steadily situated upon her paws, she looked around.

Jasper Park.

She huffed, for this was one of the only times that home was something that she did not want to see, then turned her attention to the den once again, but it was deterred when she heard a quivering sniffle from off to her right. Curious, she turned, but she could not find the source from where the cries sounded. Determined to find out where the sound was coming from, she turned.

"Kate what are you doing," she scolded softly to herself, stopping before she could traverse any further, "you don't need to be here. You need to wake up."

She sat down and grasped some of the skin on the front of her right foreleg with her claws and pinched herself, hoping that the pain would be enough to wake her up, but alas, that was ineffective.

She released her skin and tried again in a different spot, but was interrupted by somebody, the absolute last individual she wished to speak to at the current moment.

"You will not wake until I will you to do so," Michael said flatly, this statement being that of a means to inform the amber she-wolf about the situation at hand, not a threat that he was holding her hostage intentionally.

"You," Kate growled, turning her head up to see him perched on the top of the den.

Michael immediately held out his wings before his chest, hoping to reason with Kate before she attempted to attack him again.

"Now Kate," he began, "I need you to list-"

"Why would I want to listen to anything that you have to say," she demanded firmly, stomping one of her forepaws into the dirt.

Michael sighed, letting his wings fall limp beside him.

"Because I am the only one with the answers that you seek," he answered.

"Yeah, but you seem pretty keen upon keeping such answers to yourself rather than actually telling me what I want to know when I ask you," she accused, boring an icy glare into him.

"Kate that is not how this works," Michael said monotonously.

Kate growled.

"Then just how in the hell does this all work," she demanded, flattening her ears so that they were pointed at the acutest of angles above the top of her skull, one trait of hers that was common to her whenever it was that she became upset or angry at someone.

Michael took a second to collect his ceaseless thoughts and then looked down upon her.

"It's all a part of the game," he answered, "you must solve the puzzle, you must draw your own conclusions Kate. I can only help you try to understand why all of this is happening by showing you, but it is you alone who must put all of the pieces together."

Kate growled.

"Get me out of here," she demanded, "I want no part in this fucking game of yours. I will not be your cheap entertainment.."

Michael sighed again and closed his eyes.

"Are you absolutely sure that this is what you want?" he asked her exasperatedly, "if you back out now, your fates will be out of my hands and there will be no way to fix what tragedies may follow."

"Just get me the hell out of here," Kate spat, a hint of a growl rumbling down in the depths of her throat.

Michael sighed.

"As you wish," he said flatly and snapped his feathers.

* * *

><p>Humphrey's thoughts were cut short as he heard a soft mur from Kate which caused him to turn his eyes down upon her again. She shifted in his arms restlessly for a moment, almost as though plagued by a nightmare, and then her eyes slowly peeled themselves open. Humphrey smiled softly down upon her and opened his mouth to wish her a good morning, but he was cut off by Kate.<p>

"Where is the bastard," she demanded, immediately pushing herself to her feet.

Humphrey slid gracelessly off of her back and landed on his side, but was quick to push himself up onto his feet and as he rose, he cast his eyes in Kate's direction, finding her to be searching the wooden den with a vengeance.

Humphrey moved over to her side, though he stood in a means that made him appear to be slightly uncomfortable and attempted to gain her attention, but she ignored him.

"Michael, get out here now," she demanded firmly, "don't be a damn coward."

"Kate," Humphrey said again, laying a paw on her shoulder, "what happened?"

"He messed with my head, that's what happened," she answered venomously, still keeping her red-rimmed eyes running restlessly throughout the den.

"Kate, please," Humphrey tried to reason, "he did the same to me."

"Yeah right," she seethed, searching every nook and cranny that her eyes could spot, "don't you dare try to lie to me."

"He told me about Jake," Humphrey stated calmly, hoping to prove to her that he wasn't lying.

Kate's entire composure changed at this point, metamorphosing into a tense and silent state of physicality the likes of which Humphrey had never seen her in, and he knew that his words impacted her.

"No," she replied, in disbelief, "that's impossible..."

"I know what happened," Humphrey continued, laying a paw on her shoulder,

"and I know about Alpha School. He told me everything."

"He- he... did?" she asked him softly.

"Yes," Humphrey replied, "he didn't lie to you, and he was not trying to mess with your head. Whatever he showed you, was all real."

"But... your parents..."

"Yes," Humphrey replied, "however it was shown was how they were killed."

Kate, now beginning to gain control of herself, began to relax, and it was now that the lessons began to settle in upon her, but then something hit her causing her heart to drop and her stomach to twist into knots, for if Michael had shown him Jake and Alpha school, did he show him the one secret that she dreaded the most? She had to know.

"Humphrey," she began hesitantly, "is there anything else that he showed you?"

Humphrey's discomfort intensified and he shifted restlessly on his paws, feeling his face beginning to heat up, for he did not have the slightest clue how to approach the impending situation.

"What did he show you?" Kate asked him, picking up on his apprehensions.

Again Humphrey remained silent, but he knew that he had to say the words. He couldn't let this ailment remain unsolved. Their relationship depended upon their ability to be honest with each other.

"Come on Humphrey," Kate began, "you can tell me." She allowed a small smile to briefly form upon her lips, "after all, it is one of my memories."

Humphrey appreciated her attempt to lift his spirits, but was in no mood for humor, for any elation at all would be entirely inappropriate for one in his position, and henceforth his look of dejection remained.

Silence further ensued as Humphrey searched for the courage that so cleverly eluded him, and the harder he searched, the harder it seemed to find.

He did, however, finally manage to find his stomach and his mouth, for he took a collective breath, released it and his voice followed.

"He..." Humphrey began hesitantly, lowering his eyes, "he showed me how your father treated you and your sister."

There was no immediate reaction from Kate, almost as though his words had failed to register, but after a few tense moments, a new look began to form in her eyes and her entire body seemed to fall limp, like a plant deprived of water.

Humphrey knew that he had struck a highly sensitive chord, and now realized that he was not at all prepared to deal with what would follow. He just hoped that the situation would play out differently then how he imagined it.

"He... showed you the..."

"Yes," Humphrey replied softly, stepping forward, but refraining from touching her, "he showed me."

Tears began to well up in her eyes and she tried in vain to blink them away.

"That bastard," she choked, "how could he do that?"

Humphrey knew she needed comfort so he attempted to provide it by laying a paw on her shoulder, but she shook it off.

"Those memories haunt me every day of my life!" she cried, "how could he show you such acts of shame!"

"Kate, there is no need to be ashamed of yourself," Humphrey reasoned, trying to get her to look at him, but she refused, "Kate look at me, what happened between you and your father was not your fault," he continued firmly, "do NOT allow yourself to believe that. Do NOT allow that sick bastard to manipulate you like that."

Kate turned away from him.

"You just don't understand," she said between bitter tears, "you weren't there."

"I just saw it Kate!" Humphrey said firmly, "I know everything."

"No you don't!" Kate screamed, "you don't know what it's like being completely helpless at the hands of an abuser, having to watch your sister, young and innocent, being beaten and..."

She trailed off, hung her head, and cursed softly.

"Kate you're right," Humphrey began, much more calm this time, "I don't know how that feels, but I do know about abuse."

Kate lifted her eyes.

"Oh?" she demanded incredulously, "and how is that?"

"Look at what Samuel did to my parents," he said, "I saw this go on nearly every day of their lives since I was old enough to understand what was happening. I saw how they hurt, I saw how they cried, how nobody seemed to care, and I knew that there was nothing that could be done to stop it."

He paused for a moment to see how Kate would react, and in her silence, continued.

"How you felt when you had to watch your sister hurt was exactly how I felt when I saw them cry. It was exactly how I felt when I had to watch them die. Yes, I know that your case is completely different, and your pain may be greater, but the feelings are the same. I've done things I'm not proud of, but we all have, Kate, and I've seen wolves at their worst, but so have you. There is evil in this world, there is-"

"Stop," Kate demanded in a whisper, "please, just stop."

"No kate you need to-"

"Don't make me cry, Humphrey," she said firmly, "just..."

Again she trailed off, lowering her eyes to her paws.

"Just don't."

Humphrey again laid his paw on her shoulder and tempted her eyes to rise to his.

"Kate look at me," he said consolingly, "it's okay to cry. You need to let these emotions go; forgive, but never forget what has happened. That is the only way to overcome your pain."

"How am I supposed to forgive that-"

"Start by forgiving yourself," he interrupted before her anger could go unchecked, "once you've forgiven yourself, you've overcome your toughest obstacle."

She sniffled, wiping her eyes, but the tears continued to flow, though silently.

"And now it's my turn," Humphrey said, "you asked me yesterday about my scars, well I-"

"I don't want to know," she interrupted, not because she was trying to be rude, but because once again, she was attempting to avoid pain.

"Kate I understand that you are afraid of what will be said," Humphrey said softly, "but you need not be afraid of pain for it is an unfortunate lesson in life, and you need not be afraid of me. You must trust in me as I have come to trust in you."

She looked skeptical, almost as though doubting every word that came out of his mouth, so he knew that he had to do something he swore he would never do. He had to tell her everything, including the part about his mutual friend.

"Kate, following your death, I fell off the deep end," he began, "for hours I cried, for hours I wished nothing but death upon myself, and after a few days, I couldn't handle the guilt anymore. I cut myself, I made myself hurt for every ounce of shame and regret that I felt, I attempted suicide twice. I broke my own leg, killed Zach, hit your father, hit Salty..."

The deeper he got into his story, the harder it seemed for him to continue, but he had to finish. She had to know.

"I... I..."

"I never died," Kate said.

* * *

><p><strong>And now we've reached the end of Brain Damage, but what will this twist bring about in the next chapter? I hope you're as excited to know about it as I am for you to see it.<br>**


	21. Chapter 14 Into the Yond

"Come on assheads!" Eve yelled, making her rounds through the area designated for the hunt group to sleep, "let's act like we have somewhere to be! Get up let's go! I want to be out in the Dry Lands by sunrise!"

Though they were displeased with the ungodliness of the hour, everybody roused and emerged from their dens, forming in a drowsy mass under the pale blue light of the moon above them. Garth was particularly tired, for despite his best efforts, sleep never took him last night following his return from his time out with Lilly. After all, how could he have slept when he was so overcome with joy? But now he was regretting it. His pawsteps were heavy and carried him with a sort of mechanical deliberation the likes of which one feels only when they are so tired that they can hardly stand.

"What are you mingling for?" Eve demanded, "form your squads and let's move out."

Chaos then ensued as they all brushed hurriedly past and tripped over each other in their attempt to form up, but once they were in their proper group, order was restored once again.

"Squad leaders, all members accounted for?" Eve asked, turning fiery brown eyes between each of them.

Three of the four other leaders turned and counted heads, but the other one remained still, his head bobbing on his chest.

"Garth!" Eve demanded, causing him to jump awake.

"Huh? What?" he asked flustered, turning his eyes between each venomous gaze that stared back.

"Is everything alright?" Eve asked sweetly, "are you not well?"

"Uh-I uh... he stammered.

"Wake up and get with it!" she suddenly yelled, pushing her nose in until it was only inches away from his, I'll not have this operation compromised because you didn't have enough sense to sleep last night. Now I ask again, all members accounted for?"

Garth turned, counted his team then turned forward to Eve.

"Affirmative," he replied with a nod, "all members are present and accounted for."

Eve smiled, though behind it, poorly hidden, was her inconceivable madness.

"Good," she said menacingly, "let's roll."

* * *

><p>"Not without me," Salty thought as he watched them from the bush behind which he hid, "like it or not, you're not going anywhere without me."<p>

He watched patiently as the groups dispatched, waiting for the last wolf to disappear into the night before rising from his hiding place. But he did not follow immediately, no. He knew that following them without giving them time to distance themselves from him was foolish and would surely result in his discovery and his immediate return to home. That wasn't going to happen.

He moved around the bush and out into the open then stood, slowly counting to twenty before taking to their trail, though at a deliberately slow pace, the likes of which he would hasten just as soon as they were out in the Dry Lands. He already had his plan set in his mind and he knew he would not fail. He knew he would soon get to see Humphrey fall dead at his paws.

* * *

><p>Humphrey's head shot straight up and his eyes became saucers.<p>

"What?" he ejaculated, loudly, "n-no that's not possible, I saw you die!"

"Humphrey please you need to calm down," Kate said softly, trying to settle her friend, "let-"

"We had three different medical officials look at you!" Humphrey continued, almost as though she had never spoken, "_three_! And each one said you were dead! How in the hell could you have still been alive?"

He rose to his paws and began to pace, his head low and his ears flattened against his skull.

"Humphrey I can't explain to you what happened or why," she began, rising to her feet to follow him, "All I know is that later that night I came to underground."

Humphrey lifted his head upon hearing this information and turned to her, causing her to stop before him

"That night!" he demanded, "why didn't you show yourself?" Tears began to well up in his eyes." Don't you think we would've wanted to know that you were okay?"

Kate hung her head and closed her eyes.

"I wanted to," she said softly, "but I just couldn't."

"Why not?" Humphrey asked firmly, his eyes still glistening with tears, "I would have given anything to know that you were still alive."

"Do you know how it felt to be presumed dead?" she asked him, "I was finally free."

Humphrey suppressed a growl.

"That's it?" he demanded, "you hid because you wanted an easy escape? How could you be so selfish, Kate?"

"Selfish?" Kate demanded with a stamp of her paw, "think about what you've seen and what I've told you! I've practically been a slave for the entirety of my existence and to be dead was to finally be free. To be dead meant no more expectations, no more responsibilities, no more obligations. I mean honestly, do you think that I really wanted to marry that egotistical douchebag? I had to, otherwise the packs would have destroyed each other. If it were truly my choice in the matter, I wouldn't have even gone to the Moonlight Howl in the first place."

Humphrey opened up his mouth to offer a rebuttal, but closed it again and folded his ears, allowing his bitter words to remain unspoken and his head to hang slightly.

"Well I guess your "death" did do some good," he agreed softly, trying to convince himself more than her, "but there's still one more thing that I don't understand."

Kate perked her ears.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Why is it that when you saved my life, I was the only one who saw you?" he asked.

Kate took a moment to think her answer through, lowering her eyes as she searched for words, and once she got what she wanted to say in line, she lifted them again.

"I guess they are blind," she replied, "or they just weren't looking, after all, they probably didn't believe you in the first place."

Humphrey lowered his eyes and then lifted them again.

"Well..." he began slowly, trying to dismiss the situation and lighten the mood, "you're okay and that's all that matters anyway."

"Exactly," Kate replied, nudging his shoulder with her paw in a playful manner.

Humphrey allowed a small smile to form upon his lips and after a moment, he turned his attention toward the mouth of the den, staring out at the amber grass with distant eyes.

"Well... we should probably get a move on," he stated suggestively.

Kate turned to the mouth of the den as well and nodded.

"Yup," she replied, moving Michael into the back of her mind, for now, she could care less about him; she was no longer mad at him, but done with him, wanted his memory gone from her head forever.

Humphrey nodded and turned his body then began to walk toward the mouth of the den, though slowly for his body was stiff and sore from the strain he put himself through the previous day.

Kate's concern for his bodily health was still present, especially since she now knew that his wounds were self inflicted, but Humphrey insisted that he was alright, so she would not bother him about it. Silently she followed, and as the pair were finally out of the den, they took a moment to catch their senses.

Humphrey turned his eyes over each horizon, finding nothing for miles but a sea of yellow and brown, then turned to Kate.

"So, what'dya think," he asked her inquisitively, "which way would be the quickest route out of here?"

Kate took a moment to think and to catch her bearings then spoke.

"Well," she began, "I do believe that the closest recognizable landmark would be the boarder to White Pass, but even still, that would take us a minimum of nine days from this point."

Humphrey nodded thoughtfully, his inquisition evident in his eyes.

"Can we survive that long?" he asked her.

"It'd take a miracle," Kate answered, "but together, I think we can do it."

Humphrey again nodded, trying to do the math in his head.

"We'll have to figure out how to find water," he inquired, licking his parched lips.

Kate took her turn to nod.

"Yes," she replied, "food would be nice, but is not necessarily something we have to have, especially if it means we have to eat some more of those damned grubs, so we need to focus all of our efforts on finding water."

He nodded.

"And navigation," he added, "because this place looks like a really easy place to get lost in."

"Good point," she replied, "so how bout this. I'll do the navigating if you will keep your eyes peeled for any kind of water source."

"Sounds like a plan," Humphrey said with a nod, "but how would you go about that? There are no landmarks."

Kate smiled.

"Just use the sun," she replied, "it rises in the east sets in the west, right?"

Humphrey nodded.

"We just came from the Eastern Pack which means that we're going in an easterly direction, right?"

"Yes?"

"Well the border to White Pass is a straight shot from the Eastern Border if one were to travel in an easterly direction, so..."

"So all we have to do is travel east in a straight line," Humphrey finished.

"Exactly," she replied, "so there is a very slim chance that we will wind up getting lost."

"Awesome," he replied, "well, what are we waiting on," he asked, pointing his direction toward the glare of the early morning sun, "let's get going."

Kate smiled and shook her head then began to lead the way with Humphrey following at her side.

"You know, I'd kinda like to learn a little bit of that," he said to her after they had traveled a few yards, bumping her hips with his.

"Would you?" Kate replied rhetorically.

"I would," he replied, "it would be a very useful skill to know."

"Well, I'll be sure and teach you sometime," she said with a smile.

"Sounds great," he stated, meeting her smile with one of his own.

Silence ensued at this moment and the atmosphere became thick, much like it had done the previous evening. Humphrey couldn't allow the awkwardness between the two of them to continue. They were practically a couple now and therefore needed to be able to engage in sustainable conversation.

"So, do you think they will be looking for us?" he asked, "I mean, they were on the verge of putting me to death when you intervened."

"I don't think so," she replied, "after all, you did not do anything that would require an all-out manhunt, did you?"

"Not that I'm aware of," he answered with a squint of his eyes, "but I am not entirely familiar with the political side of the packs."

Kate nodded in understanding, for political knowledge was one of the prerogatives that belonged to the alphas alone, while the omegas worried more so about peace keeping and having fun.

"Well Humphrey," she began, "there are only two offenses that would call for a hunt beyond the borders of the pack in which such a crime was committed. If you were to commit a murder of one of the Command, or if you were to be found guilty of treason you could be in huge trouble because if the pack doesn't catch you inside of its own borders, the Union is called together and you'll have about twenty wolves on your tail, but I don't think you need to worry about that. Your crimes won't reach beyond the precinct of the West."

Humphrey nodded with relief.

"Whew, good," he replied with a smile, "so it should be smooth sailing from here on out."

"Yup," Kate replied with a nod.

* * *

><p>"As we are all aware, this is the place where he was last seen before going out into the Dry Lands," Eve stated to the group, as they all gathered around the Eastern Border, "find his scent, set it to memory, and if you already know it, sniff it anyway. I do not want him slipping through our paws because you did not familiarize yourselves with his scent. That includes you, negotiators and medical staff."<p>

The four groups nodded and formed a line in front of the border, each stepping forward to the spot beside which Eve stood and taking a full thirty seconds to memorize his scent down to the finest detail, and as the last wolf finished, Eve spoke up.

"Now smell him out," Eve ordered, "he's out there somewhere and I want him found."

The group stepped out into the Dry Lands right as the sun began to thrust its rosy fingertips over the horizon, embittering Eve slightly as they were now behind the schedule she had planned, but she knew that the schedule didn't matter at the moment. All that mattered at the moment was Humphrey.

The groups each disbanded, some with their noses to the air and some with their noses to the ground, but each of them were working for the same goal: find the scent, track him down, kill him, then go home. Little did they know, however, that all of this was being carefully observed by Salty, the once peaceful omega driven mad by Humphrey's own descent into madness. He knew not the first thing about tracking, but he did know, however, that if he were to go off on his own, he would need to know both how to find the quarry he hunted, and how to return home once his mission was complete; and how else to go about learning such skills than to observe and learn from some of the best trackers there were? It was all part of his plan, and only once he knew how to track and was too far from home to be sent back to the pack, would he make his presence known to the hunt group. He could only hope that they didn't discover him before then.

"Got it," John, the negotiator from White Pass called, drawing everybody's attention.

Eve was quick to take to his side and as she lowered her nose toward the area of interest, John retreated, allowing her to have her space. The group stood inert around her, awaiting her verdict, and after a few seconds, she lifted her head.

"That's it alright," she said with an almost anxious tone, "come on. He couldn't have gone too far."

The others nodded and took to the trail, using their noses to sweep through the grass, but they very soon ran into a problem and began to flounder.

Eve was quick to realize this and scowled deeply.

"What is the hold up?" she demanded, turning a pointed glare to Jason, the leader who was unfortunate enough to be standing near her at the time.

"Well, we've uh... run into a slight problem," he stammered.

"I can see that," she replied bitterly, "but why don't you tell me what the problem is so that it can be remedied?"

"Well..."

"The grass has scattered his scent everywhere," Dakoda, the leader from White Pass answered in rescue of her southern colleague, stepping in at his side, "it is almost impossible to decipher the exact direction in which he has traveled."

Eve's eye twitched once and she smiled.

"Can you please repeat that for me dear?" she asked sweetly.

"The grass has scattered his scent everywhere," she reiterated, though more slowly this time, "it is almost impossible to-"

"Alright stop right there," Eve interrupted, "and think about what you just said then tell me what the key word in such a statement is."

Dakoda began to mull it over, tilting her head as she thought.

"Almost?" she answered.

"Gold star," Eve replied with a smile that quickly faded into a scowl, "if it is 'almost impossible,' then it can still be done if a little effort is excreted, right?"

Dakoda said nothing.

"Figure it out," Eve ordered, turning her back to Dakoda.

Dakoda suppressed a growl and nodded, turning away and mouthing violent curses as she walked back to her group.

"Keep searching," she said to them bitterly.

"If I may make a suggestion," Floyd, the informant and adviser from the Northern Guard stated, drawing the attention of everybody present, "this whole problem can be solved with a little thought and a little math."

"Elaborate," Eve stated flatly.

"The scent has spread," he began, stating the obvious, "but is still not untraceable. If we were to simply triangulate an area where the scent is present then ascertain an estimate of time elapsed between his passage through such a spot and the current time, we can begin to set up a formula that should put us on the right track."

He paused, running his eyes between each of the others who stared back.

"Once we've set a perimeter and obtained a number of hours since his last presence inside of said perimeter, we can factor in an average speed and direction of wind in that allotted time so as to figure out just how far from the original scent trail the wind has spread the scent and then the answer will be revealed. Of course, we will have to repeat the process every so often throughout the trip just to make sure that he did not alter his direction, but just as soon as we close the gap to about half a day, we will have obtained a general pattern and can henceforth move without hindrance."

Eve considered his hypothesis, weighing the odds in her restless mind and then turned to him once again.

"Are you certain that this will work?" she asked him.

Floyd nodded.

"If I were a gambler I'd bet my life on it," he replied confidently.

"Excellent," Eve said with a smile, "see to it that it is done."

Floyd nodded again and turned to the others, finding them to be staring blankly back at him, for like many others in the past, most of them had not the slightest idea what he had said.

"Ah come on," he said with a smile, "it'll be easy."

"Maybe for you, Poindexter," Syd, the scout from the East replied bitterly, "but what about the rest of us?"

"Shut it Syd, or I'll break your fucking jaw, understood?" Garth seethed with a growl, his irritation being brought about by the combination of his fatigue and his feeling of anguish which still lingered from the night before, "I don't see you coming up with any suggestions, so unless you have any better ideas, keep your damned mouth shut."

Syd complied and lowered his eyes, though he muttered foul curses under his breath.

"You have something more to say?" Garth demanded, having heard the derogatory remarks.

Syd locked his jaw in anger and thought about speaking his mind, but in the end decided against it and contented himself by shaking his head.

"Thought not," Garth stated coldly and turned away from him.

Eve concealed a smile, for she never knew that Garth had it in him to step up and take control of his team. Since the day she met him, she always thought of him as a soft alpha, weak-willed, and weak-hearted, but clearly she was wrong.

"Now," Garth began firmly, "we've wasted enough time as it is by standing here arguing. All of you will listen to..."

He trailed off and turned to the grey coated wolf.

"Floyd," the grey wolf said.

"All of you will listen to Floyd," Garth continued upon learning the informant's name, "and do as he says without protest, understood?"

Nobody moved, for they knew who was in charge of the operation, and it certainly wasn't Garth.

"What are you waiting for, a friggin invitation?" Eve demanded, "get to it."

Everybody nodded and turned to Floyd, awaiting his instruction, but just as he was about to begin, Eve silently pulled Garth aside.

"Is something wrong?" Garth asked her, trying to conceal his fear of the female.

"No," she replied, "just need to talk."

"What about?"

"We are supposed to be a unit, but there is no uniformity," she began, casting glances over toward the group that surrounded Floyd, "that whole ordeal was a perfect example of just how divided we truly are, and if we don't pull our shit together, we'll fall apart."

"Dude, dumb it down, please," called a voice which caused them to turn their heads briefly toward the group.

However, they quickly found that the situation resolved itself and turned toward one another once again.

"Well what am I supposed to do about it?" Garth asked her, testing his confidence.

"You and I are gonna whip these pussy-foots into shape," she began, "and that starts with the leaders."

Garth tilted his head in confusion.

"Starts with the leaders?"

"Yes," Eve replied, "look at them. They have no real power over any of their subordinates, heck the only thing about them that says "leader" is the rank they were assigned. Why it is that these... these..."

"Incompetent assheads?" Garth offered.

"Incompetent assheads, thank you Garth," Eve said, "were selected to be leaders is beyond my comprehension. Now, don't get me wrong, you have your flaws, but you seem to at least hold your own aura of authority."

"But... what about that big guy from the Guard?" he asked perturbed, "he seems to be perfectly suited for the role that he was assigned. Why can't he do it?"

"Ian is a very good leader," Eve agreed, "and his group is organized practically down to the synchronization of their footfalls, so his group needs no redirection as the others do. Also, I am dependent upon them to be my point men. They cannot be distracted by constantly having to correct the dumbasses who don't know what they're doing."

"Alright, that's understandable," Garth replied, finding at least a little bit of logic in Eve's strange plan, "but why does it have to be me? What makes me so special?"

"Because you are the big dog in comparison to the other leaders, besides Ian anyway," she replied, "and thus far, you are the only one in this company besides me who has shown that they can act as a disciplinary when things go awry. They'll respect you. And besides, you're the only of the other leaders that I trust."

Garth furrowed his brows slightly and darted his eyes left and right once before focusing them upon Eve once again.

"Why?" he asked, his bewilderment bleeding through his tone as light bleeds through the early morning sky in lee of the darkness of the previous night, "what did I do to earn your trust? You hardly know me."

"Because," she began, "despite the conflict of our pack, you spent the entirety of a day with my youngest daughter, of whom you could have easily taken advantage, and returned her home safely. That shows me that you are an honest and reliable man, Garth, and I certainly need someone like you at my side."

Garth didn't know what to say, for as long as he knew of Eve, he had never heard, or even heard tale of her giving a word of praise to anybody, and he felt generally honored that she would choose to do so for him.

"Uh... thanks," he said flustered, this brought about by his flattery.

"I don't say it unless I mean it," Eve said then turned toward the group again.

This action drew Garth's eyes in the same direction, and when they found Floyd still in the process of trying to explain his plan to the others, they turned toward each other once again.

For a moment, they remained silent, but after about twelve seconds or so, Eve initiated conversation once more.

"Now, I can handle my group, you can handle yours," she began, "but which other group do you wish to be your responsibility?"

"Either or," Garth replied, "I mean I don't really have any particulars."

"Alright," Eve replied, "I'll make it simple. I'll handle the South and you handle White Pass."

"Sounds good," he stated with a nod, "but how do we go about this whole affair? I mean, I'm pretty sure the other leaders wouldn't be too happy about us stepping on their authority."

"Well we may experience a little friction at first," Eve agreed, "but with a little finesse, we can show them who the bosses are."

Garth nodded.

"Yes ma'am," he answered.

"Now, you may do as you please in your efforts to straighten these guys out," Eve informed, "your only limitations are the eviction of members, 'cause we need all the numbers we can get, and killing them. We don't want to start any kind of war within the Union."

Garth nodded in understanding.

"Good," Eve said with a smile, "see to it that it is done."

Garth nodded and turned away from her then began to head over to where the others were gathered.

"... about sums it up," Floyd finished, "are there any questions? Concerns?"

Nobody answered.

"Great," he said, "now let's get on it. Everybody know where they're going?"

"Sure," a female named Lacy answered, though her tone was less less than encouraging.

"Alright, let's do this, and if anybody needs further instruction, talk to me," Floyd said to them with a smile.

Everybody nodded and began to fan out to their designated destinations and once there began to do as Floyd had instructed, but quickly ran into yet another issue, for many had forgotten what to do.

Eve growled, Floyd sighed, and the process had to be repeated over, further wasting the time that so quickly slipped away from them.

* * *

><p>Humphrey glanced down at Kate's tail for the umpteenth time that morning, trying to muster up the courage to wrap his own tail about it, but he just wasn't sure if he should. He didn't know why it was that he was so hesitant and so indecisive. After all, she had told him that she loved him, so why would he be so hesitant to do what lovers do and show a little bit of affection? Perhaps he was worried that she would not yet be comfortable with it, or maybe he was just chicken, he didn't know. Kate felt his gaze and her eyes drifted toward his, but he quickly turned them out to the land around them, pretending to have his mind occupied with something else besides her.<p>

"Have you found anything yet?" she asked him, causing him to turn his eyes upon her once again.

"Not yet," he replied, "but I assure you that if it can be found, I'll find it."

Kate smiled and turned her eyes forward once again, though not without casting a quick glance up toward the sun so as to assure that they were still traveling in the right direction. Finding that they were, she lowered her eyes once more.

Humphrey turned his eyes out to the land before him, picking through the endless span of grass in search for anything at all that would indicate a water source nearby, but alas, the things he searched for eluded him.

He began to ponder the situation, finally focusing his attention on the task at hand rather than on Kate, and began carefully to think about everything that he knew.

The previous day, Kate had pointed out that there could not be vegetation without a source of water, which was indeed true. They had come across two trees the previous evening, though only one was still alive, and only barely at that, and in the end, they had met Michael who knew where to find food which meant that it was safe to assume that he knew where to find water lest he wouldn't be able to survive out here.

"Wish we would've thought about that before we left," he thought bitterly, scowling.

Oh well, no changing what has been done. He took in a collective breath and moved his mind back to the water.

Green grass meant water on the ground or within reach of the plant's root system, but every last blade of grass to be seen was dead and dry. He sighed and then lifted his head as a new thought began to come to mind.

Groundwater!

Maybe that's what was sustaining everything out here, an aquifer.

He veered to the right, eyes on the ground, which caught Kate's attention and tempted her eyes to follow.

"What's up?" she asked him, "something wrong?"

Humphrey didn't respond and came to a rest about five yards away, keeping his eyes in the ground.

Kate was both aggravated and intrigued, for her, though it annoyed her that he would ignore her like that, curiosity began to rise inside and enticed her to follow. Strangely enough, she saw him begin to dig, though awkwardly, as his braced leg could only be used for so much, and her look of inquisition deepened.

"What are you doing?" she asked him a second time, "you're not looking for more of those nasty grubs, are you?"

Humphrey ceased digging and lifted his head to her, his forepaws still inside of the shallow hole that he had dug.

"Just testing a theory," he answered and began once more to dig.

Kate cocked her head in indignation, displeased by the bluntness of his reply.

"And what might that be?" she asked him, a tiny trace of venom present in her tone.

Humphrey stopped once again, though this time he pulled his paws out of the hole and turned his body to her.

"I think I know where the water is," he replied, glancing at the hole once more with his eyes.

"You think it's underground?" she asked him with a raise of her brow.

"Where else could it be?" he replied, "there's gotta be an aquifer down there somewhere. All we have to do is dig until we find it."

Kate cocked her head in confusion.

"A what?" she asked him

"Do you know what a water table is?" he asked her.

She arched an eyebrow, thought it over for a moment, but drew a blank.

"Can't say I do," she replied.

"Well basically," Humphrey began, "a water table is the place where the pressure of a water head beneath the surface of the earth is equal to that of the atmosphere around us..."

He trailed off when he realized that he was beginning to lose Kate and shrugged.

"Basically, there's a water source underground, like a well, that changes with the differing amounts of rainfall and with the general flow of underground water that is present. The actual level at which the water stops may be a full twenty feet underground, BUT, depending upon the ability for the soil to retain and absorb water, small amounts of it can travel up toward the surface and thus sustain a very minute array of plant life in a place like this. Now, the soil here is loose, very grainy, but is blended with a certain consistency that allows it to do exactly as I had earlier described."

He then began to dig once more.

"And if my theory is correct," he continued as he shoveled dirt with his paws, "if we were to dig deep enough we should be able to eventually strike moist soil. We could then press down upon it, squeeze the water from the soil and form our own little drinking pools."

Kate nodded, now becoming slightly excited because with the way he had explained it, it seemed as though water was just within their reach.

"Of course, that all depends upon how wet the soil is," he threw in, not wanting to overcompensate for what they may actually find.

Kate nodded in understanding.

Humphrey then continued to dig, mining his way deeper and deeper into the ground, but when he got about eighteen inches down, he paused.

"Kate, come here," he said to her, pushing himself out so that she may see.

Kate arrived at his side and looked down into the hole.

"You see that?" Humphrey asked, pointing down into the hole.

Kate immediately knew what it was that she was supposed to see, for the soil, normally a light brown to yellow color, began to darken into a sort of dark tan as the hole became deeper, especially near the bottom.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked Humphrey, turning her eyes up to him.

"You tell me," he replied, holding up one of his paws, of which was matted with tiny clumps of mud.

Kate's excitement grew and a smile began to form across her face.

"Come on," she said, now throwing her own paws into the hole, "let's keep going, we're almost there."

Humphrey smiled at her enthusiasm and threw his paws in beside hers and the two continued to dig, burrowing deeper and deeper into the moist soil. After about another eight inches or so, the pair stopped, staring down into the hole, for, just as Humphrey had predicted, they had reached a spot in the ground where the soil became so damp that any time their paws scraped across it, tiny pools of water would rise and then permeate into the ground once again.

"You know what that is?" Humphrey asked, turning an anxious smile to Kate.

Kate nodded.

"Water," she replied exuberantly.

"Yup," Humphrey replied, "now, I can already tell that this is gonna work only one way. One of us will have to press while the other drinks otherwise the water will just absorb into the soil soon as pressure is released."

Kate nodded.

"Alright," she replied, "You go ahead. I'll hold it for you."

"Nope," Humphrey replied with a shake of his head, "ladies first."

Kate rolled her eyes.

"There's no way I'm gonna win, is there?" she asked rhetorically.

"Nope," Humphrey replied, already beginning to apply pressure with his paws, "drink up, but don't expect it to taste very good."

Kate nodded, but at this point she was so thirsty that she didn't care what the water tasted like just so long as it quenched her thirst.

She lowered her nose into the hole and extended her tongue to the muddy water then began to drink, first cautiously, and then ravenously as she discovered just how thirsty she truly was. She lapped at the water with loud slurps, literally sucking the water down until there was nothing left and then she pulled out, her muzzle drenched in the brown liquid. She licked her lips with a loud smack, not even caring about the dirt, then turned to Humphrey.

"How was it?" he asked her, licking his lips anxiously.

"Amazing," she replied, "it's surprisingly cold, and not nearly as grainy as you would expect."

Humphrey nodded and began to lower his head into the hole, but when he found it to be sucked nearly dry, he lifted his head again.

"My wasn't somebody thirsty," he teased, causing Kate to blush.

"I'm sorry," she replied sheepishly, "I should've saved some for you."

"Ah, don't worry too much," Humphrey replied with a dismissive lift of his paw, "just give it a minute or two, it'll come back."

Kate nodded, though she still felt bad that she had drank all the water, but her guilt was alleviated when Humphrey tested the hole with his paws and water once again filled the bottom of the hole.

"Need any more?" he asked her.

"Nah," she replied, "go for it."

Humphrey nodded as she placed her paws into the hole and then began to drink greedily at the water as well, feeling it instantly revive him, and once it was all gone and the hole had been practically licked dry, he pulled his head out.

"God that hit the spot," he said to Kate, breathing hard, for he had hardly paused to breathe while he drank.

"Heck yeah," she replied, "so great, we know how to find water and we know how to navigate, so we're golden. Now there's nothing to stand in our way."

Humphrey nodded in agreement, regarded the hole one final time, and then turned toward the east once again. Kate needed not to be told that they were headed out and she fell in at his side, and together, the pair continued on into the passing day.

but they had no idea as of yet just how wrong they would be as their future, though looking bright, had a dark storm brewing in the unforeseeable distance, one that would bring about to them an unimaginable amount

**The whole deal about Kate's story doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it? Well you'll find out why soon enough.**

**In the meantime, this is where I get off. Until next time, faithful readers.**


	22. On the Run

**Chapter 15: On the Run.**

**I know this update is long overdue, but here it is, finally. **

"Either that son of a bitch is supernaturally fast or we've been heading the wrong direction," Jason griped, turning his eyes between the group that had gathered before him, trying to pick them out of the darkness that surrounded them.

He paused for a moment then continued, "and what is this whole business with Eve and GARTH of all people trying to control how we run our outfits?"

The other leaders in attendance shrugged, for they had not a clue, but, like Jason, wanted an explanation.

"Could it possibly be that you all are doing a crappy job with what duties you have been assigned?" a new voice asked, causing everybody to turn.

A mere shadow stood before them, only a silver outline of moonlight and a pair of glowing yellow eyes to account for its presence.

"And just what do you know of it, Ian?" Dakoda demanded, taking immediate offense to what he had said.

Ian shrugged.

"That's unimportant," he replied dismissively, "and besides, if I were to point out the obvious mistakes made by those who assigned the leaders of these outfits, I would have to deal with having to fight every one of you until you finally got smart enough to stay on the ground, and you don't want that to happen any more than I do, so let's just drop the hostilities right here and now before somebody gets hurt, huh?"

"You are one egotistical son of a bitch, you know that?" Jason demanded, rising to his paws, "ever since you joined the Guard, you've held yourself in such high esteem that you have gotten the delusion that you're infallible, and that everybody else is inferior to you."

Ian cocked his head and arched a brow.

"It's no delusion," he replied, " and I know that I am not perfect, but I also know that it takes competence to see the logic behind what it is that Eve is trying to do, and apparently there is not a single one amongst you who has reached that level of maturity yet, but you guys go ahead and keep having your little faction meetings because I'm sure they'll accomplish a lot... that is, if you are anything more than cowards bellyaching about a problem that you will never do anything to fix."

"Go get fucked," Jason growled, "we're all competent leaders and trackers otherwise we wouldn't have been sent out here on this stupid escapade in the first place."

"Perhaps in the degenerating standards of the packs you call your own," he replied with a dismissive shrug, "but this isn't a damned hunting exercise where failure and mistakes are frowned upon until somebody else picks up the slack you left behind. A mistake out here could cost somebody's life and I don't want to see anybody in this outfit buried, so we must work together. Now, I know that we may not see eye to eye on certain things, and let's be frank, I am a dick, but if we work together I can promise you that I will do everything in my power to keep my fellow wolf safe, as I am sure you would do the same for me when the shit hits the fan."

As he finished, he took a seat, allowing them some time to mull over what he had just said, but he did not have much to worry about. Somehow he knew that they would see it through his eyes now, or at least that was what he hoped.

"He's right you know," Richard, the negotiator from the South stated softly, causing the others to turn to him, "we will never achieve our goal if we are constantly at each other's throats like this. W-"

"It's still a matter of principal, Richard," Jason cut in, "I will not tolerate somebody trying to step on my tail and tell me how to run my squad. It just doesn't work that way."

"But maybe they won't have to if you weren't so stubborn all the time," Dakota argued, "He just offered us a reasonable solution and yet you brush it off simply because it may hurt your pride. Perhaps if you could see past your own delusions you could understand that this makes sense."

Jason growled.

"So you expect me to sit quietly and let some brawny douche from the West tell me how to run my platoon?"

"No, I expect you to work with us," she replied, "that way he won't have to."

"Think about it, Jason," Richard reasoned, "the only reason they're doing this is because of our lack of uniformity, so if we pull together like we're supposed to, they would have no reason to interfere."

Jason growled and turned away from them, refusing to accept another word, which caused Ian to shake his head slowly from side to side.

"And this is exactly what I'm talking about," he began, "you all claim to agree with me, but are none too slow to throw one another under the bus, and you, Jason, are unwilling to listen to reason." He paused. "Being a leader is not always about directing others," he continued, "it sometimes involves being open-minded and willing to accept new ideas, and until you can do this, you'll never be anything more than a power hungry pup."

Jason rose to his feet with a growl.

"I'm only gonna tell you once to shut the hell up," he seethed, gnashing his teeth.

"Guys, calm down," Miles implored, stepping between them.

However, Ian moved around him.

"Or what?" the black alpha challenged, his muscles tensing, "you're gonna embarrass yourself in front of everybody by not only throwing a childish tantrum, but getting your ass kicked on top of it?"

"That's it," Jason snarled and lashed out at Ian, landing a brutal hit on his muzzle.

However, rather than falling as Jason had expected him to do, Ian's head only jerked to the side from the blow then turned slowly back around to the front.

"Adorable," Ian mocked with a smile.

It was at this moment that Jason was subjected to the most ruthless beating he had ever experienced.

In the mere minute that it took for the others to pry Ian off of Jason, he had thrown him to the ground and landed an onslaught of agonizing blows to his muzzle and the side of his face, and while he had not the time to inflict a sufficient number of blows, they landed quickly and efficiently, causing his eyes to swell shut and his nose to begin to bleed profusely.

"What the hell is going on here!" Eve demanded, stepping right in the middle of the chaos and causing it to immediately settle.

The wolves turned to her and all separated, then lowered their eyes to their paws, save Jason, who still lied upon the ground.

"Well?" Eve asked, turning a piercing gaze over each of them.

"That psychopath attacked me," Jason growled as he pressed himself to his paws.

Eve turned to Ian with fire in her eyes.

"Is this true?" she asked him bitterly.

"Not entirely," he replied calmly, "I will admit to expressing my opinion about them, but I did not throw the first punch. All I did was teach him a little lesson about choosing his fights carefully, something he's struggled with since we were pups. Isn't that right, little brother?"

"Fuck you," Jason spat, moving to lunge at him.

However, Eve checked him with a growl, which caused him to plant himself on his haunches.

"Listen to me you little pricks," she seethed, "we are all here to do one job, and if we fail because you pups can't get along I'll make sure that you are all put in the hole for the rest of your lives, understand?"

Nobody spoke and they all continued to stare at their paws.

"I don't give a damn if you don't like each other, but you'd better find a way to work together, and you'd better do it fast," she warmed, "now get to sleep all of you. We've got an early morning ahead."

A&Ω

As dawn crept slowly over the horizon, the rays of the coming sun began to bathe the earth in brilliant, auburn light.

They crawled across the vast empty plains and found Humphrey's eyelids, drawing them open as they began to force their way into them.

Humphrey groaned in distaste and turned over, attempting to shield himself from the sun, but since he was not in a den, there was nowhere to hide, so he eventually allowed his eyes to peel themselves open for good with a yawn.

But he dared not move any more than he had to for he wished not to disturb the one who lied in his arms.

Or at least the one who used to lie in his arms...

He discovered as his eyes opened that Kate had gotten an early start.

Typical alpha.

He smiled softly as he pressed himself to his haunches and stretched his stiff muscles, being careful to not agitate his wounds, then took a moment to suckle on the life-giving breath which the morning had to offer.

After his morning preliminaries were completed, he rose to his feet and turned his eyes out over the land in search for Kate, but he could not pick her out of the grass, as its color camouflaged her well. However, he did not need to look long, for there was a rustle to his right, then he heard her voice.

"Good morning sunshine," she greeted, causing him to turn to her.

"And good morning to you as well," he replied, a smile on his face.

"I went out to look for some breakfast," Kate informed, "but of course I couldn't find anything, sorry."

"Eh don't worry about it," Humphrey stated with a dismissive wave of his paw, "we'll be alright."

"Well I'm sure we will," Kate began, "but it sure would be nice to have some good meat in our stomachs."

"I can't argue with that," Humphrey agreed, "but I guess we're just gonna have to make due until we get out of here."

Kate nodded, though going over a week without food was not a particularly handsome idea to her.

"Yup," she replied then allowed her eyes to drift off to the east, "well... I guess we'd better get a move on," she suggested, "I wanna get out of here as quick as possible. This place gives the creeps."

Humphrey laughed softly.

"You and me both," he replied, "the sooner we get across the better."

Kate nodded.

"Well, lead on, omega," she said brightly.

Humphrey nodded and turned his body to the east then began to walk, and Kate followed, plodding through the grass at his side.

For thirty minutes their trek droned on in silence save the occasional breeze which would brush softly through the grass, and the entire time Humphrey found himself haunted by the same fears which he possessed the day prior. Was it too soon to show any signs of affection? And if not, which actions would be appropriate and which ones would be too soon? How far could he go with his signs of affection before he went too far?

The last thing that he wanted to do was make Kate feel rushed in any way, or make the wrong moves which would drive them apart because he had worked far too hard to let it all slip away now.

From her position beside him, Kate could sense the turmoil which plagued his mind and could not help but feel similar in some senses.

She wanted so bad for him to show her that he loved her, maybe tangle his tail with hers or pull her in close by his side, anything, but he was too nervous. Perhaps he just needed a little bit of encouragement.

But then again, would it be too forward of her to force herself upon him?

She turned her eyes to the front once more and continued to walk, searching her mind for answers which it did not seem to have, but maybe her mind was where the issue truly lied. He loved her and she loved him, and that was all that mattered. Her mind did not dictate what she felt in her heart, so why should she let her head dictate her actions? Besides, would it not be the same if she was to show him that she loved him?

She cursed silently, for it was obvious that her mind would not leave her heart to work on its own, so perhaps she could make a compromise which would please both her feelings and her apprehensions.

She turned her eyes over to him and allowed them to drift backward toward his tail then intentionally closed the distance between them slightly so they were within two feet of one another, but she was not going to rush this.

She allowed another twenty feet before she lightly bumped Humphrey's tail with hers, now beginning to bait him into doing what she knew he wanted to do, but he did not take it. However, this did not discourage her, as she figured that he simply dismissed it as an accident.

Determined, she bumped him again and allowed her tail to linger for about a second before she pulled away, but as she began to pull away, she felt the brush of his fur as his tail followed hers. Knowing now what he was doing, Kate stepped closer so that they shared only a distance of a foot, and as she drew near and nearer to his body, she felt more and more of her tail being wrapped into his.

Kate turned to Humphrey who felt her gaze and met it with a slight aura of insecurity, almost as though he was afraid that he had done something wrong, then tried to pull away, but Kate smiled and tightened her grip, refusing to allow him to escape.

"It's alright, Humphrey," Kate said to him, leaning against his body and resting her head upon his shoulder, "you don't need to be so afraid to show me that you care."

Humphrey was unsure of himself, because he still feared doing something wrong, but he forced himself to relax and rested his face on the top of her head.

"Sorry I've been so standoffish," he apologized, pulling away so that he may look her in the eyes, "I'm just so afraid of offending you."

Kate smiled.

"There is no need to worry," she assured, "be affectionate, and if you are doing something that I am not comfortable with I will let you know."

Humphrey nodded.

"Okay," he replied, now comforted and tightened his grip on her tail once more.

Silence carried them for the next ten minutes, as they found content in each other's company, but after such time had passed, Kate found herself casting backwards glances. Humphrey realized this and paused, allowing his tail to fall slack.

"Kate, is everything okay?" he asked her, allowing his eyes to follow hers.

She sighed.

"I don't know," she replied, "I just have the strangest feeling that we are being followed."

Humphrey nodded, feeling his own apprehensions beginning to rise.

"Do you think we should investigate?" he asked her.

"I'm sure it's just this place making me paranoid," she assured, continuing to walk, "and even if we were being followed, the last place we would want to go is toward them."

Humphrey smiled dubiously as he followed her.

"Oh come on, scardy cat," he teased, bounding past her and blocking her way, "I would think that the greatest alpha in the West and a rouge, loose cannon omega could take 'em."

"Normally we probably could," Kate replied, "but aren't you afraid of hurting yourself again?"

Humphrey looked down at the log on his leg then allowed his eyes to drift upward once more.

"Good point," he replied in defeat, "but as soon as this stupid thing comes off we won't take crap from anybody."

"Sure, Humphrey," she replied sarcastically, brushing her way past him, "whatever you say."

"Don't believe me?" Humphrey asked provocatively, following.

Kate looked up, almost as though deep in thought.

"Umm... no," she replied, turning her eyes down to him once more, "in fact, I'd say you're completely full of it."

Humphrey chuckled and shoved Kate gently with his paw.

"Yeah, you're right," he replied, flashing her a toothy grin, "but I know a certain someone who could teach me how to fight."

Kate rolled her eyes as she retook her original position at his side.

"You're not referring to me, are you?" she asked him coyly.

"I don't see any other badass alphas out here," he replied, casting his eyes all around, then scowled as his friend appeared in his line of sight, but he would ignore him for now, "just you, me, and the grass."

Kate chuckled.

"You flatter me, Humphrey," she said aristocratically.

Humphrey chuckled.

"But seriously," he said to her, "I really would like it if you would teach me a few things."

Kate cocked her head.

"Like what?" she asked him.

"Well hunting skills for one," Humphrey answered, "and basic self-defense, because think about it Kate. There is no telling what the future has in store for us. If you were to get hurt, how could I take care of you if I didn't know these things?"

"That is an excellent point," Kate agreed, "tell you what, just as soon as you can get that brace off of your leg, I'll teach you what I can."

Humphrey's eyes brightened.

"Great," he replied exuberantly, his scarred cheeks wrinkling into a smile.

Kate smiled as well.

"Just be patient," she warned, "I'm not the best teacher."

"Oh come now," Humphrey chuckled, "you'll be great."

Kate allowed her smile to soften.

"Thank you," she thanked, leaning her head on Humphrey's shoulder.

Humphrey smiled softly, feeling his heart nearly explode with joy and affection, and laid the side of his face down upon her head.

"I love you, Kate," he whispered, tenderly.

Kate closed her eyes and allowed a soft smile to birth itself upon her lips.

"I love you, too, Humphrey, my dearest omega," she crooned as she once again took his tail into hers.

Humphrey could have never found a truer sense of happiness than that which he found in this moment, because, despite having expressed his love for her, and having heard those three crucial words being returned to him in the past, he still felt uncertainty worrying at the back of his mind.

But now, any and all doubt that he once had disappeared, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, he felt true and absolute happiness overwhelm his body. Tonight, when he would again ask her to howl with him, they would not howl as an alpha and an omega, but as two lovers, whose hearts would blend into one as the intoxicating elixir of song soared into the starry night


End file.
